Bubbles and Hair Balls
by TsukikoUchu
Summary: Nine Tails attacked and Yugito Ni gives birth to a little girl before dying she passes on the Two Tailed Cat Sakura Ni, is adopted by the Haruno's, this story is about finding out who she is and falling in love along the way with Utakata of Hidden Mist, :D
1. Prologue

12 years ago the night the Nine Tailed Fox attacked the Leaf Village, a woman by the name of Yugito Ni died after giving birth to her only child, and passed down the Two Tailed Cat to this girl, that night twin cries rang through the battle field, one from a little blue eyed blonde boy.

And the other from a pink haired emerald eyed girl, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Ni, both orphans once the Fourth Hokage and his wife had finished sealing the Nine Tailed Fox within their own child and Tsunade sealed the Two Tailed Cat within Sakura.

No one would take care of them, yet neither were allowed to be close to one another until Sakura was adopted by a nice couple who couldn't have children of their own, the Haruno's, Mebuki and Kizashi, thus Sakura's name changed from Sakura Ni to Sakura Haruno.

As the pink haired emerald eyed child grew up, everyone knew she was different, she could create blue flames from her mouth at the age of five and whenever her temper came out, she would gain cat like features, her eyes turning into slits and her nails sharpened.

Many people were afraid of her but not the Haruno's they loved their adopted child so much that Sakura grew up mostly spoiled, she became friends with Ino Yamanaka and got a crush on Sasuke Uchiha causing a rift between the two girls.

That all ended when she was eight, Mebuki had taken her daughter into town that day for the yearly festival and that's where little Sakura saw him, he had gold eyes and brown hair, he was much prettier than Sasuke, and yet she felt a sort of kinship with him.

A feeling was bubbling within her chest and Sakura slipped away from her mother to follow after the older boy, he had to be in his teens, several minutes later he disappeared on her, he was a shinobi "Why are you following me ojou-chan" he asked staring the pinkette down.

Sakura spun on her heel and slammed into his knee's "I don't know" she grasped at her heart "Something in here is telling me that you're just like me" Sakura answered in an unsure tone of voice, she didn't know what was happening at all.

Utakata frowned and searched deep within himself before he could dwell to far 'Hey Utakata, that girls a tailed beast host just like us' Saiken's voice called from his psyche and the boy gave a jolt in surprise, she was so young.

"I know ojou-chan, but you have to be strong okay, the names Utakata, what's yours" he reached down after introducing himself and ruffled the pinkette's still short hair, her emerald eyes lit with an inner light that Utakata couldn't help but smile at her.

Becoming unbelievably shy, Sakura scuffed her shoe and pushed her fingers together "Haruno, Sakura Haruno" she mumbled as her cheeks turned a rosy red in embarrassment, Utakata was much cuter than Sasuke and that was saying something.

Before their conversation could go on much longer, Sakura's mother charged through the little crowd that had gathered around the two and dragged the pinkette into her arms "Sakura what the devil were you thinking wondering off on you're own" Mebuki panted out of breath.

"I'm sorry mom but Utakata-san here was..." Sakura trailed off as she realized that the boy she had just spent the last several minutes tailing and talking to had vanished without a trace, emerald eyes wide, she was dragged home cutting their day at the festival short.

The years passed and eventually Sakura grew into a bright young kunoichi in training, topping even Sasuke as the number one rookie, which infuriated the last Uchiha to no end, Ino and Sakura had never repaired their friendship either so the pinkette was mainly on her own.

Well not quite 'Come on Sakura-san' that feline voice called from within 'You still have to get through this test' it reminded and the pinkette frowned, she had been hearing that voice for a few years now like an incessant buzzing in the back of her mind.

But she did as it requested and aced her latest test until they were all released from the academy, since her parents were travelers, they were gone more and more as she got older until Sakura rarely saw them sometimes at the house.

It wasn't right of them to leave her alone when she was still only 10 years old, it had been two years since she had met that boy, Utakata and she had never seen him again, on that day she had decided to make it her personal goal to find him.

And that feline voice was urging her to do it to, it was strange but Sakura just wanted to meet Utakata again and find out what he had been talking about, why did she have to be strong, what did he know it was frustrating.

Flipping on the lights in her house, Sakura made herself a quick meal before heading straight to bed, the days repeated until finally two more years had passed and she turned twelve in time to take the Genin Exams to graduate the academy.

She passed on the first go round, but there was no one to celebrate with, so Sakura cooked up a celebratory dinner all by herself and then took a shower, she didn't know it but on the other side of the village Naruto had been told the truth about himself.

Iruka smiled at his favorite student and gave him his own forehead protector "Congratulations Naruto you pass" he told the blonde who immediately started jumping up and down in excitement, the scroll of sealing was put away again and the next day would mark their first day as official genin.


	2. Just the Beginning!

The night before the newly graduated genin were to be assigned their jonin sensei's, Hiruzen called Inoichi Yamanaka, Yamato and Genma Shiranui to his office, not very many people knew that Naruto wasn't the only Tailed Beast Host in the village and it was time to start putting protection in place.

"Now there's a reason I've called you three here so late, tomorrow the academy graduates will be assigned a sensei, but there's more trouble, it's a carefully kept secret this village has two Tailed Beast Hosts, besides Naruto that is" Hiruzen blew a puff of smoke as he spoke.

Yamato cringed, one was bad enough, now there were two "But how, who is it and what beast is it" he asked staring at his Hokage with confusion, they should have known but they didn't and now the host was going to be a genin, it was very disconcerting.

"Young Sakura Haruno, she was adopted before anyone found out, on the night the Nine tailed fox attacked a young woman named Yugito Ni came here and gave birth, she died during the birth and her demon was sealed within her child by Tsunade" the Hokage explained.

Inoichi frowned, his daughter had been close to the pinkette once, she was a very sweet child even though she had a temper, "Are you saying that you're assigning Sakura-san to me Lord Hokage" he questioned skipping straight to the point of calling him there.

Hiruzen took a deep breath as smoke blew lazily through the room "Yes, Inoichi you'll become Sakura Haruno's sensei, however that leaves you two genin short" he released his breath and dug through his desk for an aged scroll, drastic measures were being taken this time and everything had to go perfectly.

"That's where you two come in Yamato, Genma" he glanced between the two adult males as he placed the aged scroll on his desk "Seeing as there aren't enough graduating genin, to form an extra team, you two will have you're ages reversed" Hiruzen clasped his hands together staring the two men down.

Genma blinked before cracking up laughing "Oh man this is perfect, always wanted to try being a kid again, hey who knows maybe I can get lucky this time" the brown eyed man nudged Yamato in the side with his elbow knocking the other brunette off a bit.

"Shiranui this is no time to be joking" Yamato groaned, why did he of all people always get stuck in these situations, but a mission was a mission, Kakashi was going to pick on him even more than he already did "Alright Lord Hokage we'll do it" he sighed rubbing his face.

Hiruzen glanced down at his desk for a moment "I realize I'm asking a lot from the both of you, I'll explain to the others what's going on" he grabbed up the scroll and unrolled it as he spoke and spotted the age reversing jutsu, the permanent one.

Genma and Yamato stood side by side as their Hokage started going through a long list of hand signs, it felt like ice was spreading through their veins going straight to their hearts as Inoichi watched on in curiosity as their bodies gradually shrunk until they were mere twelve year old's again.

"Well that was interesting" Genma piped up in a much higher voice than he was use to, right being a preteen meant he hadn't hit puberty yet "So this will last forever right" he inquired and Hiruzen nodded "Right so how do we explain our presence to Iruka" Genma thought of a question.

The old Hokage chuckled "That's been taken care of, Inoichi will go to collect young Sakura tomorrow and bring her here, the details will be kept to a minimum she doesn't need to know what she is yet" Hiruzen stated before dismissing the three from his office.

'I just hope everything turns out alright' Yamato thought as they were leaving, he was trying his hardest not to be spotted by Kakashi just yet, he didn't want to be teased or picked on right then, maybe later after he had adjusted to his newly resized form.

Twelve year old Sakura Haruno woke up the next day 'Today's the day' she squealed inwardly as she jumped up from her bed and hurriedly made it before quickly taking a shower and dressing in her dark red dress and black shorts and dark blue sandals.

Once she was done she brushed through her long pink hair and tied it in a braid, there was no way she was going to let someone grab it and then Sakura tied her headband around her neck, she wanted to be different than the others and chose a spot she knew not many would choose to wear her headband.

When she got into her kitchen, Sakura sighed of course they weren't here, she became upset until that voice appeared 'Don't cry koneko-chan, everything will be fine' it told her and Sakura smiled kindly, as she grew up that voice became her only friend, since Ino didn't want anything to do with her.

With that in mind she quickly made up her own breakfast before looking at the time, Sakura grinned as she situated her weapons to her body and left the house locking the door behind her and placing a jutsu over it so that if anyone tried to break in she'd know.

Sakura walked along the path slowly enjoying the trek to the academy where she would find out who her teammates were and who would be her sensei 'With this I can start my goal to find Utakata-san' she giggled to herself.

She didn't realize she was being trailed by two brown haired boys "So that's Sakura-san" Yamato asked and Genma nodded, "At least she has the sense to dress in dark colors" he grimaced that hair was going to be a problem in the future, he was sure of it.

Genma rolled his brown eyes "Relax Yamato, at least she's cute, maybe she'll date me" he joked and got slapped over the back of the head "Come on lighten up a bit, you are a kid again haven't you ever wanted to redo you're childhood and make different memories for yourself" Genma asked.

"Yes but not this way, not looking after another tailed beast host, Naruto was bad enough" Yamato shuddered remembering all the trouble the little blue eyed blonde got into and what he had almost caused last night before they were basically ordered to become preteens again.

Suddenly the pinkette they were tailing whipped around a glare in her suddenly catlike green eyes, she huffed softly before relaxing her features returning to normal, 'That was to close" Genma coughed out as Sakura continued walking again.

Yamato agreed with his friend and now teammate "Yeah, but how did she even know" he asked, Sakura was an enigma to him and he was going to find out just what made her different than the other tailed beast hosts that came before her.

"Anyway we should get to Lord Hokage's office" Genma shrugged as he and Yamato turned and headed back towards the Tower, Hiruzen looked up from his paperwork before gesturing to the couch, both boys sat down for the long wait.

Meanwhile Sakura had made it to the Academy, she still felt as if there were eyes on her 'Relax koneko-chan, no one will harm you under my care' that voice came again and the pinkette instantly calmed, and took her seat.

The other academy graduates started filing in and somehow she found herself squished between Sasuke and Naruto, every time she was in close proximity of the blonde a feeling akin to the one she had gotten while talking to Utakata would swell within her chest.

And the only way it abated is if she talked to the boy "Morning Naruto, isn't it a lovely day" Sakura greeted leaning her head on her hand, the blue eyed blonde turned in his seat and a wide grin spread across his whiskered face.

"Hey Sakura-chan so you passed the exams to huh" Naruto exclaimed in surprise and the pinkette nodded a small smile on her lips, beside her Sasuke scoffed and crossed his arms "Teme" Naruto grouched and Sakura sighed.

She was always playing mediator for these two boys, "Okay that's enough, Sasuke stop acting like a petulant brat and Naruto stop calling Sasuke names" she stared both down until Naruto lowered his gaze, but Sasuke just glared all the harder.

"I mean it Sasuke, you don't want to get hit by my special flames again do you" Sakura snickered, the Uchiha reeled back and scooted a little ways away from her, inwardly the pinkette was dying with laughter, that threat always worked.

-Flashback-

It had been a couple years ago, after they had gotten out for lunch, Naruto had followed her that day seeing as he didn't have any pranks planned for that afternoon, they had been enjoying their food when Sasuke had walked by them.

The Uchiha had paused mid-step and turned to face the two "Loser" Sasuke smirked arrogantly at the blonde, Naruto jumped up fist swinging knocking Sakura's homemade bento from her hands, neither boy payed attention as her emerald eyes flashed in anger.

Suddenly Sasuke felt heat on his arm, he looked down and there was a tiny blue flame "Uchiha" the pinkette growled stalking forward a glare in her emerald eyes, they were slit much like a cats and her nails had slightly elongated and they were coming right at him.

But he had more to worry about as that blue fire increased, soon Sasuke couldn't take it anymore and started jumping around trying to shake his arm out, when that proved to be ineffective he dropped to the grass and rolled.

Naruto was bent hands on his knee's laughing up a storm but Sakura kept on glaring at the boy until she finally relented and put the flame out "Hope you've learned you're lesson Uchiha" she snarled showing off her teeth.

Sasuke paled and took off, no way was he going to mess with that girl, when he was gone, Sakura cleaned up the mess "Sorry Naruto, but he pisses me off sometimes" the pinkette sat down and tilted her head to the sky watching the clouds roll by.

"I know and you can be very scary when you're angry Sakura-chan" Naruto gulped, he had never seen her use that jutsu before but now he was wary of his only friend, but he also knew that Sakura would never hurt him as she had proved several times over the months.

Sakura smiled sweetly and stood "Come on Naruto, lunch is about over" she held out her hand and they walked back to the classroom holding hands, if other kids stared at them weirdly or made a snarky comment then she would put them straight, through the ringer that was.

-End Flashback-

Naruto turned his head in the other direction slapping his hand over his mouth, it had been two years already and Sasuke was still afraid of Sakura, he kept his laughter to himself until Sakura nudged him in the side with her elbow and gestured with her head to the front of the room.

Iruka had finally made his appearance and Naruto straightened in his seat, this was it, he hoped he got put on a team with Sakura, he took a deep breath and sought out Sakura's hand, she twined their fingers and sent him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Naruto, even if we aren't on the same team we'll still be friends" Sakura whispered softly to the blonde and he relaxed further, the one thing Naruto feared the most was being without friends and truthfully she was to, but she was able to keep a better control over her emotions than he was.

At the front of the classroom Iruka cleared his throat "Congratulations to all of you for becoming genin, now today you'll find out who you're teammates are and you're sensei will come pick you up at a set time" he called order in the room and the newly promoted genin settled down.

Sakura squeezed Naruto's hand tighter as Iruka started calling out Team Numbers and the three preteens that would be on the team until he finally said Naruto's name, this was followed by a random female in the class and Sasuke.

The blonde immediately started pouting "Aw I really wanted to be on a team with you Sakura-chan, at least that way you'd be able to keep the bastard over there in line by threatening him all the time" Naruto whine and the pinkette shook her head.

She was about to say something when her name was announced "And on Team 13, Sakura Haruno, Genma Shiranui, and Yamato, you're sensei is here already" Iruka gestured for someone to come into the classroom and Sakura about passed out.

"The heck is going on Dad, how are you Forehead's sensei" Ino exclaimed angrily as the blonde came into view, Sakura looked between the two Yamanaka's and stood making her way down the aisle to stand at her assigned sensei's side.

Inoichi rubbed his chin and waved to his daughter "I'll explain later Ino-chan, for now keep you're wits about you" he smiled before taking Sakura by the shoulders and leading her from the academy building where she had spent the last six years learning all she could.

"Um Yamanaka-san" Sakura murmured in a shy tone, this was strange, she hadn't realized the man she had seen everyday for an entire year while friends with Ino would be her sensei, Inoichi looked down into her green eyes and smiled kindly.

"Don't worry to much Sakura-san, all will be explained in due time" he stated as he led his sole female student down the streets to the Hokage tower where Genma and Yamato were waiting, Sakura remained silent after that as they walked up the stairs and entered the office where Hiruzen worked.

His eyes settled on the pinkette's petite form and she smiled nervously "Good Morning Lord Hokage" Sakura greeted him politely as she was prone to doing in situations she wasn't comfortable in, Hiruzen blinked his brown eyes before nodding.

"And a very good morning to you Sakura-san" Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe and blew the smoke out a moment later, discreetly or as discreetly as she could manage the pinkette waved her hands in front of her face when the white cloud hit her smack in the nose and she coughed softly.

Sakura looked around feeling eyes on her again and her own clashed with onyx "So how come I had to come all the way here to meet my teammates, not to be rude or anything Lord Hokage, but it's all just so confusing" she fidgeted with her dress for a moment as she broke her staring contest with the boy.

Hiruzen chuckled, she truly was a very sweet girl, but Sakura had a temper to match Tsunade's, meaning the pinkette got a little destructive when she was angry much like his former blonde student use to whenever someone pissed her off.

"Genma, Yamato come here" he turned his attention onto the two boys and they hastened to their female teammates side "Now not to beat around the bush, I'm going to tell you something about yourself Sakura-san" Hiruzen gazed into Sakura's emerald eyes.

Sakura tensed feeling as if she wasn't going to like what the Hokage was about to tell her, but just as equally as curious to find out what was going on "Okay Lord Hokage, give it to me straight" she mustered up as much courage as she could and still remained as polite as possible.

Inwardly grimacing "You've noticed that you're different than average children correct" Hiruzen asked and Sakura nodded, she'd known this long before anyone had pointed it out to her "To put it simply you have a tailed beast sealed inside of you" he jumped straight in.

Her forehead creased in confusion, before it suddenly all made sense "So is Naruto one to, just like me" Sakura asked in a small voice, it would explain that nostalgic feeling she always got whenever she was around him after all.

Surprised she had figured it out so quickly, Hiruzen nodded "You host the two tailed cat and Naruto the nine tailed fox, Yamato here has the ability to control these beasts if the go out of control" he continued not letting up for an instant.

Sakura took a step back and rammed right into Inoichi "Sorry Inoichi-sensei" she apologized as her mind tried to process all she was being told, strangely that voice she had heard nearly five years straight was absent and she was beginning to panic.

Genma glanced to his left at the girl he and Yamato had been assigned to watch over, "Lord Hokage" he called worriedly as Sakura wrapped her arms around her body, Yamato held up his hands preparing to use his wood jutsu in case she went berserk on them.

Hiruzen clenched his hand around his sword "Sakura-san" he tried hoping that by revealing the truth to the girl hadn't caused her to lose her grip on her emotions, he knew it was a shock to be told something like this but Sakura had always had a good head on her shoulders.

The pinkette blinked her emerald eyes 'Koneko-chan, do you hate me' the feline voice spoke gently in her mind and Sakura shook her head tears welling and then trickling down her cheeks 'Then don't cry please' it soothed.

Suddenly Sakura took a large gulp of air realizing she had been holding her breath for sometime "I'm okay Lord Hokage, it's scary but I'll manage, the cat she's nice and she's been talking to me for a longtime now" she smiled relaxing immensely as if a weight had been lifted off her chest.

Yamato was amazed at the amount of control the girl had over her beast, she was so different than Naruto it was truly breathtaking, though for one moment he thought he might have to use his jutsu on his newly reassigned teammate.

Inoichi tugged at the collar of his shirt "Right is that everything Lord Hokage, I do have to get to know my students after all" he smiled kindly at the Hokage sitting behind his desk, Hiruzen nodded and dismissed the quartet from his office.

Genma chewed on his senbon and sidled up to his female teammate "So Sakura-chan do you got a boyfriend" he asked out of the blue and Sakura whirled on him eyes narrowed, Yamato chuckled and Genma pouted as the pinkette took a few steps away from him.

"Nope and I'm not looking either, I've got my eye on someone already" Sakura raised her head and walked a little closer to her sensei, she was more familiar with Inoichi than these two boys seeing as how they had never showed up for classes not even once, nor had she heard their names called.

The blonde chuckled under his breath, Sakura wasn't the type to spare anyone's feelings, she said things like they were no matter how hurtful they could be "What was it you always said, Truth is a Harsh Mistress, but you'd rather hear the truth than be lied to, to you're face" Inoichi asked.

"Mhm Inoichi-sensei" Sakura hummed sweetly glad that someone remembered, it was something she had to remind others on a near daily basis, now that she had gotten over the fact that she had basically a monster sealed inside her, she was glad that the cat had never tried to take over.

As she thought that 'Never Koneko-chan, I like you, you remind me of...' it trailed off suddenly 'My former host, she died here in you're village and you were the only other child available' she finished before her voice faded going back to wherever it always came from.

Suddenly Sakura thought of a question 'May I know you're name at least neko-san' she inquired gently, she certainly didn't want to get snapped at in case the beast sealed inside of her got angry because of all of her questions.

One name floated through her mind in that sweet voice that always accompanied her closest confidant 'Matatabi' the two tailed cat finally introduced herself to her host, the pinkette was just like her mother, right then Matatabi always swore to protect her former hosts only daughter.

Genma watched as Sakura's emerald eyes lit up and a happy smile spread across her lips "Okay what's that look for" he nudged the pinkette in the side breaking her from her thoughts, Sakura blinked in confusion before looking all around.

"She told me her name was Matatabi, you know the two tailed cat sealed inside of me" the pinkette whispered proudly shocking the three males around her, none of them had expected her to accept everything right off the bat.

Sakura huffed softly, 'Koneko-chan, other people aren't as accepting as you are about us tailed beasts' Matatabi called and the girl squeezed her hands but nodded inwardly in understanding 'Don't worry, everything will be fine, just have faith' she soothed before going dormant again.

"Well here we are, I'll start off, My name is Inoichi Yamanaka, I like my wife and daughter, I dislike people who don't take their responsibilities seriously, my hobby is working in my clan's flower shop" Inoichi paused to take a breath before continuing.

"My favorite food is Baked Potato with leeks and capers, and my least favorite food is pork" he finished "Now it's your turn" Inoichi gestured to Yamato and the brunette cleared his throat as Sakura focused her attention on her teammate now.

"How do begin, well my name is Yamato, I don't have a known last name, I like reading books about architecture, and my dislikes are well I don't really have any, I love walnuts and I hate any food that has oils, and my favorite phrase is Knocking on a Stone Bridge before crossing it" he finished.

Sakura blinked her emerald eyes before Inoichi gestured to the other boy on her team, Genma stood up and flashed her a cheeky smile "The names Genma Shiranui, I like girls and I hate those that think they are better than others" Genma began smiling widely when the pinkette rolled her eyes at his declaration.

"Love pumpkin broth and extremely dislike spinach, my hobby is traveling when I can, and my favorite phrase to say is No Words, But Action" he finished before all three looked at Sakura, she wanted to hide but she took a deep breath and started.

"Well my name is Sakura Haruno, I like training and learning new ways to fight, I dislike my parents for leaving me behind all the time" her face grew dark with anger here before her expression lightened and she continued.

"My hobby is reading any kinds of books and playing trivia games to challenge my mind, my favorite food is Mitarashi Dango's while I don't like anything that's spicy, my favorite phrase is, A life with Love throughout" Sakura paused for a second.

"And my ultimate goal is to find a man, well he should be a man now, he was just a teen back then but I want to find someone named Utakata and become a famous kunoichi that's known throughout the lands" she finished.

Inoichi rubbed the back of his head "Okay so now that we all know each other on a more personal level, I say we get to training a bit, you're three's task is to find me before sundown" he body flickered away from his team and watched them from a distance.

Genma slapped his forehead, and Yamato sighed, meanwhile Sakura blinked her eyes in confusion 'That was so cool, maybe Inoichi-sensei will teach us that little trick someday' she giggled to herself before rising to her feet.

Both boys, though they still had their adult minds turned to their sole female teammate "So how do you think we should search Sakura-san" Yamato asked coming to stand next to the pinkette, Genma likewise stood on her other side sandwiching her between them.

Sakura grinned "Well since Inoichi-sensei is a jonin, he's probably got his scent and chakra masked so we won't be able to search for him that way, so the only option left is to search the old fashioned way, on foot" she paused before lowering her voice.

"Though I think sensei will stay nearby so that he can watch us and figure out how we work as a team" Sakura stated wisely shocking both Yamato and Genma with her use of knowledge "The only question is where exactly he's hiding" the pinkette tapped her lip oblivious to her teammates awe.

Yamato shared a look with Genma "You know Sakura-chan you might just be right, so we should split up and search all ways, I'll go this way, Yamato you go that way and Sakura you search in that direction" Genma stated before taking off.

Sakura grinned in excitement as Yamato headed off in his own direction before turning to the tree's, and much like a cat she quickly scaled it until she reached a branch and heaved herself onto it right next to Inoichi "Found you Sensei" Sakura giggled swinging her legs childishly for a moment.

Inoichi floundered for a moment as he realized he'd been figured out "You're surprisingly bright Sakura-san" he finally said and Sakura smiled knowingly, she'd been told that a million times by Iruka her entire time in the academy.

"Uh-huh Iruka-sensei said was the top academy student to graduate and become a genin, my scores were off the charts, though somehow Shikamaru-san beat me, I don't mind though it wasn't a competition" Sakura explained shocking the blonde further.

Below them Genma and Yamato ran beneath them and Sakura clasped a hand over her mouth as Genma hollered at the second brunette "Where's Sakura-chan, I don't see her anywhere, I did tell her we were going to meet up here after thirty minutes didn't I" he was clearly panicking.

Yamato sighed "No you forgot" he looked left and right before spying a bit of pink out of the corner of his eye, in the tree's 'Found you' Yamato thought in relief as he quickly climbed the tree and there sitting next to the pinkette was his sensei for the time being.

Genma was next and all four of them dropped from the tree, "Good job, Sakura's tracking skills are superb, tomorrow we'll do more for now head home" Inoichi commended his students on doing a great job before dismissing them.

Sakura sighed as she suddenly found herself alone, seeing as she had no other friends besides Naruto she trudged home slowly, Yamato and Genma shared a look it was as if they had basically been forgotten when Inoichi had left.

"Hey Sakura-san want to come get dinner with us at the tea and dango shop, we'll even pay" Genma offered suddenly causing the pinkette to swing around and stare at them in confusion "I mean we are teammates after all and we want to get to know you better" he shrugged.

Yamato realized it, she had no one but herself and possibly Naruto as he had seen on more than one occasion the blonde hanging around the pinkette, she was lonely and though until today no one had known she had still gotten some bad luck because of her being a tailed beast host.

So "Yeah come on Sakura-san" Yamato extended the invitation and Sakura's hesitation vanished as she walked quickly towards them and took her spot between them as he and Genma led her to the tea and dango shop getting many strange looks.

Once seated, Sakura ordered a small plate of sweet curry, a plate of Mitarashi Dango, three sticks and a cup of green tea, while Genma ordered differently and Yamato just got a plate of dango and tea, the entire time they waited, Sakura chattered on and on about everything she had been through so far.

By the time the trio of one genin and two time reversed jonin, anbu finished with their meal, they had learned far more about each other, but mostly they had learned more about Sakura as they walked her home and she bid them goodnight.

After her shower that night, Sakura flopped down on her bed a grin on her lips as she kicked her legs in the air 'Can you believe it Matatabi-chan, they actually want to be my friend' she called out to her tailed beast and a soft purring thrummed through her mind.

'I'm glad Koneko-chan' Matatabi's voice floated through her and Sakura sighed blissfully, she was just so happy, soon though her eyelids grew heavy and heavier yet and without even covering herself that night Sakura slipped into the most restful sleep she had ever had.


	3. Trouble Brews

On the morning of her second day as an official genin, Sakura jumped out of bed just as she had the day before and quickly got ready, instead of putting her hair in a braid, she bound it with some bandages she had on hand and then made her way to the kitchen.

For the first morning since she had been ten, her parents were seated at the table and they appeared shocked to see the headband resting around her neck "When did you become a genin dear" Mebuki asked stirring the sugar into her tea.

"Yesterday mom, you two were supposed to be here for the graduation ceremony" Sakura mumbled under her breath feeling more agitated than happy to see them, for some reason she got the feeling that these two weren't her birth parents.

Of course she didn't realize that Matatabi also knew the truth about herself as well, but that was for another time "Sorry sweetie" Kizashi apologized to his adopted daughter not looking up from his paper as he passed over a little gift he had gotten on their travels for the pinkette.

Mebuki did the same as she padded around the kitchen whipping up breakfast for her and her family "Those came from the Hidden Cloud Village, we sold some wares to the Raikage and he gave those to us" she explained the two presents.

Sakura pressed her lips together "Thanks Mom, Dad, I'll check them out later for now I have to go meet my team and sensei for an early morning training session" she polished off her breakfast and grabbed the two gifts and sped out of her home.

Along the way to the training grounds Inoichi had led her and her teammates to the day before Sakura peeled off the wrapping paper to her two gifts and found them to be rocks "Ugh" the pinkette groaned and simply dropped them in a pond, there was absolutely nothing interesting about rocks.

Never mind that her parents didn't even stick around to see if she liked the little gifts they kept on leaving or sending her, Sakura shook her head and focused on the present as she finally made it to her teams training grounds and found herself the second one there.

"Hey Yamato" Sakura greeted the brunette, Yamato spun around hands held in the air brown eyes wide in fright "Oops sorry didn't mean to startled you" she smiled sheepishly and the boy scratched his head before chuckling softly.

"Don't worry about it Sakura-san, how's you're morning been so far" Yamato asked as Sakura rested her back against a thick tree, he mimicked her position and sat down in front of the pinkette as they started talking "Mine has been great" Yamato said to get the ball rolling.

Sakura grinned, it was definitely a change of pace but none of her teammates or sensei were bad "It was alright, my parents decided to show up for the first time in forever" she rolled her eyes here "They gave me rocks as a congratulation's on becoming a genin gift" Sakura grimaced.

Yamato blinked before cringing, what kind of parents did this girl have "Surely they love you though, it's not about the gift, it's the meaning behind it" he offered hopefully Sakura would realize that she was behaving a little selfishly.

The pinkette immediately pressed her lips together "There was no meaning behind the gifts, my mom told me that she'd sold some wares to the Raikage and he gave her the rocks for free, so they decided to give them to me" Sakura stated in a flat tone.

Feeling like a jerk Yamato opened his mouth and apologized "I'm sorry Sakura-san, I didn't mean to upset you" he hurriedly said but Sakura had shifted her attention to the side as Inoichi and Genma appeared walking together on the training grounds.

"Don't worry about it Yamato" Sakura waved Yamato's apology off like it was nothing more than a fly buzzing in her ear and jumped up "Morning Inoichi-sensei, Genma" she greeted both males in one go as she bounced over to them, long back length hair trailing behind her nearly smacking Yamato in the face.

Inoichi smiled as the two formerly grown men and one preteen girl grouped together and started chatting away as if they had no cares in the world however "Okay you three it's time to get to work, first we'll start by seeing how you handle a few of my jutsu's" he called out to them.

Each preteen formed a line as he had instructed "So what exactly do you want us to do, dodge or attempt our own attacks" Sakura piped up before he begin and both Yamato and Genma gave her a look that said she was being weird, it was a look she quickly ignored.

Clearing his throat Inoichi spoke "I want to see how well you dodge and attack, though to disarm only" he warned not wanting to have to send any of the three before him to the hospital for an accident, Sakura's emerald eyes brightened to a painful degree before she nodded.

Genma and Yamato looked between each other and sighed, it was a pain being a genin again, their distraction was what Inoichi was waiting for and he tossed a few kunai out, Sakura dropped to the ground avoiding getting hit while her two male teammates got scratched on the arms.

In the next moment Sakura was on her feet making a wide circle around Inoichi slowly increasing her speed as he pulled out a sword "Come on Genma, Yamato, this is supposed to be a team effort you know" the blonde pointed out suddenly.

Kicking their butts into gear, Genma pulled out several of his senbon while Yamato formed hand signs at a rapid rate and held it on the last one, Inoichi watched his female student carefully as she leaped forward suddenly, elongated nails coming straight at him and he blocked her with his sword.

Those claws latched onto the blade, Sakura's cat like emerald eyes clashed with his blue-green, Inoichi struggled to get his hands around the sword properly again but it was to late as a senbon struck one of his nerves and disabled his hand temporarily.

This allowed Sakura to pull the sword from his slackened grip and throw it lightly away, Yamato was after as he used his wood style jutsu and wrapped wooden beams around the blonde immobilizing him "Well done you three, you're pretty good" Inoichi blinked in confusion wondering how he had lost so easily.

"Nah we just got lucky is all" Sakura scuffed her shoe on the dirt shyly as her features returned to normal and those long nails retreated leaving them short and still extremely sharp looking, Yamato and Genma stood next to her silently.

Inoichi chuckled "So you three obviously are good at teamwork related fights, so we'll work on you're individuals, so pair up, Genma against Sakura, and Yamato you're with me" he commanded the three preteens effortlessly.

Genma breathed deeply as he chewed on the end of his senbon, he didn't want to seriously maim the pinkette so put away his senbon choosing instead to use taijutsu, Sakura however didn't have the same idea as she charged at him head on holding two tantou swords in her hands.

He ducked low and then twisted his body to the right as she swung both blades at him "Whoa Sakura-chan" Genma cringed as she leaped high into the air, rethinking his decision to put away his weapons, he pulled them out in the nick of time.

"Ha, I've been working" Sakura said breathlessly as her tantou swords clashed with Genma's senbon needles "I only recently got this, I had been saving up a bit of money" her emerald eyes sparkled with glee as her teammate knocked her back.

The brunette grinned "Not bad Sakura-chan, but anyone could tell you're still a novice at wielding those" Genma pointed out and the pinkette nodded in understanding, she had already known that, but that's why she was practicing with them in the first place.

"Work on correctly swinging you're swords first then put power behind them" Genma instructed knowing a little bit about sword mechanics, Sakura smiled widely and adjusted her hold on her two swords and swung them still a little shakily but a lot more effectively the third time around.

"Thanks Genma, you're not to bad with those either" Sakura gestured to the needles and a cocky smirk spread across the boys lips, she blinked in confusion before shaking her head not even going to bother asking him what he was thinking about.

Genma laughed as he threw one of his needles at the pinkette and she spun to the right and then dropped as a whole barrage of senbon needles came her way, "You're quick on you're feet" he called throwing even more weapons at Sakura.

This time Sakura smirked "Well people often liked to chase me so I gradually got faster and faster, though sometimes my reaction speed is impeded, whenever I'm low on chakra" she announced actually giving the boy an answer to an otherwise rhetorical question.

Then it happened as Genma went to throw another barrage of his senbon, across the field where Inoichi and Yamato were sparring lightly, the other brunette on the team when flying as Sakura opened her mouth and spat out a blue flame that took on the form of a mouse.

And what followed were words "Fire Style: Mouse Hairball" she called and Yamato collided with it, Sakura's eyes widened in horror and leaped forward patting out her blue flames, she was the only one who could touch them without getting burnt.

When they were all out, Yamato sat up and glanced to his arm, the only spot that had gotten burnt as it had been a slow acting flame, his onyx eyes were rounded "I'm going to make a wild guess and say you didn't do that on purpose" he joked when his eyes met Sakura's tear filled emeralds.

She shook her head sniffling softly "No, sometimes jutsu's come out in the heat of battle and I guess I was so into it that I didn't realize, I'm sorry Yamato" Sakura lowered her head to the ground and rubbed at her eyes, within Matatabi grimaced.

The only way Sakura would be able to handle her was if she trained at the Waterfall of Truth, did she dare tell the pinkette the truth, or was it to early, Matatabi was at a loss on what to do, do cheer up her host, the poor girl didn't needed the added stress after all.

"It's alright Sakura-san, and besides you got over to me pretty quick and put out the flame before I could get hurt to bad" Yamato hurriedly assured the pinkette and she gave him a small unsure smile, he patted her on the back "For what it's worth that was pretty cool" he stated.

His words made an impact and she started snickering behind her hands "Yamato-san you're pretty neat yourself being able to use the same element as Lord First" Sakura smiled so wide her cheeks hurt as her sadness at hurting one of her teammates faded.

Yamato nearly choked on his spit "You are something else Sakura-san, first being able to come up with that wicked plan to find Inoichi-sensei yesterday and then being able to use a couple of jutsu's from you're tailed beast along with wielding dual tantou swords" he shook his head in exasperation.

Sakura blushed a bright red at that and Genma collapsed in a fit of laughter "Okay you three enough goofing around, we've trained for awhile today, so we'll move on to our first D rank mission" Inoichi reigned the two previous adult males in and his only female student.

The pinkette's whole face lit up as if her birthday had come early "Wow what kind of mission is it Inoichi-sensei, are we helping someone or are we going to be cleaning out the river" Sakura babbled suddenly in excitement.

Inoichi chuckled as both Yamato and Genma eyed the girl oddly "This is a list of everything that needs to get done" he passed around the list and Sakura took hers happily, emerald eyes roaming the sheet quickly until she nodded.

"Are we gonna split up" Genma questioned suddenly and Inoichi nodded "Okay, I'll take walking the dogs and weeding someone's garden" he stated, those were the easiest things to do on the list and no way did he want to get stuck babysitting someone's brat.

Before Yamato could speak up "I'll do the babysitting and running errands for the old couple" Sakura jumped in staring the second brunette on her team down in case he had wanted those two particular assignments, he smiled nervously.

"Guess that leaves me with cleaning the river and counting the fish in someone's pond" Yamato sighed, he had really wanted that errand one but Sakura had been quicker, she truly was pretty fast with not only her feet but her mouth as well.

The blonde nodded "Meet back here in three hours, I'll give you, you're mission pay then" Inoichi gestured with his hands and his students shot off the training grounds like rockets, Sakura dashing to the right, Yamato to the left and Genma going full speed straight.

Sakura skidded to a halt outside the house of the old couple and knocked on the door "Oh hello dear are you the genin that's been assigned to help us out" the woman answered and Sakura nodded her head "Well if you'd come in for a moment, we'll tell you everything that needs to be done" the old woman ushered the pinkette into her house.

If only she had known that by going in there, Sakura wouldn't have chosen that particular assignment from the list as the old couple turned out to be human traffickers, they searched for girls that had exotic hair and pretty features and sold them on the black market.

And she was their next victim, three hours after she had been knocked out, Genma and Yamato regrouped with Inoichi only to blink in confusion "You know I thought Sakura-chan would be the first one done" Genma pointed out as dread filled his stomach.

Genma wasn't the only one feeling as if something bad had happened, Yamato was tapping his foot anxiously as the three of them waited for the pinkette to appear, but she didn't and as the minutes ticked by he began pacing.

"You know what I'm going to go find her" Yamato took off, she had probably gotten stuck helping that old couple, Inoichi and Genma were hot on his heels as he sped down the streets to the house listed on the D ranked missions and as calmly as he could knocked on the door.

Five minutes passed before Yamato tried again, he spread out his senses and felt no one within not even the old couple that was to live there, so instead of knocking he simply bashed his way through into the house only to stop as his heart froze in terror.

There on the floor was a spot of blood, it was dry and next to it was a few strands of pink hair "Inoichi" Yamato flew out of the house holding the strands "I think she's been taken, Lord Hokage told me before all this happened that there had been multiple kidnappings lately" he started.

Inoichi felt his stomach fill with dread and Genma nearly vomited as he remembered the same talk "Young girls ranging from preteen to teen and young adult have been taken to never be seen again" Yamato continued his face darkening in rage, it had been his job to find whoever it was.

"From the information I gathered before we were assigned to this team as re-aged genin, the girls were being sold on the market and all of them had one thing in common, exotic colored hair and they were very pretty" he bit his cheek as he clutched the strands of pink hair in his hand.

"And that they had been targeting girls of the Leaf Village, most likely the old couple were just a disguise they used and Sakura's been taken" Yamato rubbed his face tiredly "We should go tell Lord Hokage what happened and do our best to find her" he suggested.

Genma shared a look with Inoichi before the three of them traipsed towards the Hokage Tower and up the several flights of stairs and managed to get a meeting with Hiruzen, when the trio of males barged into his office, the Hokage looked up and raised a brow "What is the meaning of this" he asked.

Inoichi grimaced "Well we've got a problem, we think Sakura's been kidnapped by the human traffickers, probably around three hours ago" spewed from his mouth and Hiruzen dropped his pen in horror "Do we have permission to go after them" Inoichi finally asked.

Hiruzen sighed, that poor girl "Just give me a few minutes to fill out the mission request" he stated before pulling out a scroll and scribbling on it for several long minutes, until he finally handed it over to Inoichi "You have three weeks to find her" Hiruzen said.

The three males, two former adults and the last still an adult bowed and left the room to gather what they would need on their mission to rescue the pinkette that had somehow gotten herself in a sticky situation without them knowing it.

Miles away from the Leaf Village, Sakura was slowly waking after being cracked over the back of the head with a wooden club, her hands were free so she gently felt up her head and hissed as it throbbed from the large bump that had formed.

Whispering alerted her ears "How long did you say the brat would be out" a distinct males voice whispered, but it wasn't one Sakura recognized, a moment later a feminine voice responded in equally low tones almost as if they were afraid of being caught, wherever they were.

"A couple days, you really got her" the female snorted in obvious amusement as if she was proud of what they had done to her, Sakura's face darkened with anger and she prepared to set the two on fire when the calm restraining voice of Matatabi called out to her from within.

'Koneko-chan' she warned 'Keep calm, stay alert wait until the perfect moment before making our escape, we're probably not in Fire Country anymore' Matatabi continued and Sakura relaxed and closed her eyes pretending to be asleep as her two captors bustled about the camp.

Suddenly the blanket that was placed over her was lifted and Sakura evened out her breathing trying her hardest not to let whoever it was that was staring at her know she was awake when she wasn't supposed to be, a few minutes passed and the blanket was dropped.

A shrill whistle pierced through the air "Man she sure is a cute one, almost wish I could keep that one myself but someone's paying a lot of money for her, she's practically already been bought, I mean come on the only girl with pink hair in the entire world is going to go quick" the male chortled.

Sakura grimaced, and squeezed her eyes shut 'Please someone come save me, Inoichi-sensei, Genma, Yamato, Naruto, Utakata someone please' she prayed inwardly and there was nothing Matatabi could do to reassure her host that everything would be alright.

The next night after pretending to be asleep all day, Sakura and Matatabi planned their escape, she had been working on genjutsu's before she had graduated from the academy and now it was time to test out what she had learned on her captors.

So when the male had gone to sleep, Sakura lifted her head carefully and peeked out from beneath the cover, the female was no where in sight so she quickly started through the hand signs and then in a whisper "Ninja Art: Demonic Illusions" Sakura breathed creating a genjutsu throughout the area.

To her right a thud sounded and the woman dropped out of the tree knocked out trapped in a world of illusions, Sakura scrambled from the cart she had been thrust into and made a mad dash towards the tree's before she was pulled back.

"I knew it was you little brat" the woman sneered and backhanded Sakura across the face splitting the pinkette's lip, the man jumped up "Guess we were wrong on how long she'd stay knocked out, this one has some life in her" she shook Sakura at her partner.

He took one look at her "You aren't supposed to damage her" he groaned coming towards Sakura and placing his hand on the pinkette's face to inspect the damage that had been dealt, but before he could touch her lip she bit down on his finger and hard.

"OW YOU BITCH" he released her and Sakura got slapped again before getting knocked onto her knee's, tears welled in her eyes and the pinkette glared at her captors cheek swollen and eyes slit like a cat's meaning Matatabi was close to the surface.

"My teammates and sensei will come for me" Sakura spat angrily as she fought to keep a handle on her emotions, it was a difficult job especially with Matatabi trying to claw her way out and take control, Sakura didn't realize it was only to protect her that she was trying so hard.

The man became wary as the girl he and his partner were transporting to be sold became encased in cloak of chakra and then became a blue two tailed cat that started spewing blue fire balls at them until their entire camp was annihilated.

Matatabi roared with anger swinging her paw through the woman who dared touch what she had chosen to protect, she was dead after crashing through a few tree's splitting her skull open and breaking her neck when colliding awkwardly on the ground.

"You're next human for touching what's mine, no one hurts Koneko-chan without facing my wrath" Matatabi flexed her claws as blue fire bubbled at the corners of her mouth, she was going to incinerate this one, he ran and the chase was on.

For the next several hours, Matatabi hunted the human man that had taken her and Sakura from the safety of the Leaf Village, until she grew bored and released all the pent up fire she had held instantly turning him to ash with its heat.

Tired now, Matatabi gave control back over to her human host and Sakura stumbled finding herself outside again after being trapped within her mind for what seemed like days 'Um Matatabi-chan where are we' Sakura asked as she slid down a tree to rest, her captors were dead now so she was safe.

'Hmm probably near the border of Lightning Country judging by all the cumulonimbus clouds in the air' Matatabi saw through her hosts eyes before falling silent wondering if she should tell the girl the truth, it only took a few minutes before the two tailed cat made up her mind 'Make your way in that direction' Matatabi pointed Sakura in the direction of the Hidden Cloud Village.

Meanwhile days away, Inoichi, Genma and Yamato were searching frantically for the missing pinkette, they hadn't stumbled across any clue of where she had been taken or where she was at now in the entire time she had been gone and they were beginning to get desperate.

"I say we go search the other villages to see if they've seen her" Genma suggested heart pounding in his chest as he chewed viciously on the end of his senbon needle that always stayed situated in hims mouth, Inoichi and Yamato nodded before they turned in the direction of Hidden Sand.

It only took them two and a half days to reach their destination as they were already close to the desert that neighbored their Fire Country, they talked to the Kazekage and he shook his head never having seen any such girl so they left.

In all that time Sakura was trekking across the Lightning Country soaked to the bone, her dress wasn't keeping her warm at all and she was so hungry, Matatabi wasn't much help either, but things were about to go from bad to worse or at least that's what her initial thought would be.

A shadow fell over her petite form and Sakura looked up into hazel eyes, and then shocking dark red hair followed, rain was rolling off his black cloak that had red clouds on it "Brat" he suddenly said and Sakura's cheeks turned red in anger.

"Who the hell do you think you're calling a brat" Sakura seethed quietly as her hands formed into fists at her side, the man before her blinked in shock before a smirk spread across his lips, and he kneeled down to be eye level with her.

He stared into her emerald eyes for sometime before chuckling "Perhaps not such a brat if you're able to keep that good of a check on you're emotions, come with me kid you look like you could use some shelter" he offered holding out his hand.

Sakura hesitated, she was near starved and practically freezing to death and yet something inside of her told her not to take that man's hand, perhaps it was just that because of recent events she was a lot more wary about accepting help or offering her own help to strangers.

"I don't know, I don't know you're name or anything about you" she backed up to the man's surprise those hazel eyes staying focused on her shivering frame, yet his hand stayed outstretched "How can I trust you" Sakura lifted her chin proudly.

The red head chuckled "Well kid my name is Sasori Akasuna and you can't trust me, but just this once I'll let you get away, so come on" Sasori grabbed the pinkette's hand and drug her towards the cave he had been using for the last several weeks.

He had only come out because he had felt her chakra flickering in distress, to find such a pretty girl all the way out in the middle of no where "So what's you're name anyway kid and what are you doing in Lighting Country" Sasori prodded.

Once inside the cave and before the fire he had built, Sakura sat quietly for a short time as her mind reeled "Sakura Haruno, and I was kidnapped from my village to be sold on something called a black market" she mumbled finally.

Sasori tensed "And how did you get away exactly" he inquired looking over the pinkette and noticing her still swollen cheek, busted lip and large bump on the back of her head, it looked like she had bruises in other places as well which meant that they had done a poor job in handling her.

Sakura bit her lip "I blacked out and when I came to they were dead" she lied straight to the red heads face, keeping her eyes on the fire so as not to betray her thoughts or give away that she was lying and in fact did know what had happened and how she had gotten away.

The red head nodded in understanding "Stranger things happen" Sasori shrugged preparing their meal "So what village did you come from" he questioned digging a little deeper for more information on the pinkette that had wandered into unknown territory.

Unsure if she should tell him, Sakura fiddled with the sleeves of her dress for a moment as she conversed with Matatabi on what to do, ultimately in the end, she decided to tell Sasori the truth "Hidden Leaf Village" Sakura murmured.

Blinking his hazel eyes rapidly, Sasori frowned shaking his head in disappointment "You realize you're going in the wrong direction right kid" he raised a red brow at Sakura and she glared at her feet, she was glaring so hard the he could almost feel the heat of it as if that glare was directed at himself.

"Trying to get to Hidden Cloud so that way someone from there can contact my village and tell them where I am" Sakura grumbled and had a bowl of chicken broth and some vegetables shoved into her hands "Um thank you Sasori-san" she said politely before sipping at it.

At least it was something after going on empty for the last few days "Don't mention it kid and how long you been out there anyway" Sasori nodded his head to the cave and Sakura lowered her wooden spoon after taking another sip of the broth.

"Er judging by the distance I've crossed and the time that elapsed between my kidnapping I'd have to guess about three days, this is the first meal I've gotten" Sakura explained sheepishly she still had hope that her teammates and sensei would find her.

In that moment the separation from her home and friends and newly formed team hit her and Sakura's emerald eyes welled with tears, they trickled down her cheeks silently as she finished off her food, Sasori never once comforting her.

Though his thoughts were a little more complex, he felt for the girl he truly did, there was nothing he could do, seeing as he was a wanted criminal, if he were to walk into any village he was a dead man no matter how much power or puppets he commanded.

The next day, Sasori gave Sakura one of his spare cloaks seeing as she was determined to get to the Hidden Cloud Village and gave her a few kunai to defend herself, "It's about four hours in that direction" the red head pointed and the pinkette clutched the cloak around her tighter.

It was a plain brown one instead of the fancy one he wore but Sakura thanks Sasori anyway and headed out after eating breakfast, she had to get to the Cloud Village no matter what, the red head watched her go until she was no longer within his sights.

Four hours traveling at as fast a pace as she could, Sakura managed to make it to the Hidden Cloud Village in record time, as she almost collapsed in front of the gates four men come barreling through them a dark skinned male wearing sunglasses in the lead.

-A few minutes before-

Bee had been rapping in his office all morning and it was extremely irritating, if only Yugito had come back then perhaps the man wouldn't be so annoying, Ay groaned preparing to threaten his brother into leaving when Bee went rigid.

"What is it Bee" Ay frowned deeply then his brother shot out of the office like a rocket "Darui, Cee" he ordered and flew after Bee with his two right hand men on their heels, Bee led them on a chase through the entire village.

Until they got to the gates, he crashed through them and he, Darui and Cee followed just as a little girl stumbled in front of them, Bee opened his mouth "You're not Yugito so why do you have the two tails inside" he rapped as she stared at him warily.

"Don't know who you're talki...ng a..bou...t" her words became slower as exhaustion caught up with her small body, before Matatabi or anyone could say anything her whole world became dark and Darui caught her before she hit the ground.

Miles away Inoichi, Yamato and Genma had finished searching Wind Country for any sign of the missing pinkette and still hadn't found her "Where do we go search next" Yamato asked rubbing his face tiredly, for all they knew Sakura could have already been sold and then there was nothing they could do.

"I vote for going to the Hidden Cloud Village, even if we aren't on the best of terms perhaps we can negotiate a deal with them that will encourage them to help us find Sakura-san" Inoichi suggested and both Genma and Yamato nodded.

With that decision in mind, all three males doubled their speed hoping to make it to Lightning Country and then to the Hidden Cloud Village, it would take them almost a week but they had high hopes that the Raikage would cooperate with them.

'Please for the sake of everything kami-sama let her be alright' Inoichi sent a small prayer to the heavens for Sakura's safety, he didn't know how anyone would react, especially Naruto if the pinkette turned up dead or worse they never found her.


	4. The Truth Comes Out

As they traveled across the lands in search of the missing Sakura, Inoichi, Genma and Yamato come across a destroyed camp two days into their decision to head to the Hidden Cloud Village, they were going to bypass it all together until Yamato found the dead woman.

"It looks like something with a giant paw hit her, see these claw marks" Yamato pointed out as worry filled his heart and dread pooled in his stomach, if Sakura had lost control over her tailed beast then that thing was probably out there in the world rampaging around.

Inoichi grew pale, that was one of the reasons he had been assigned as Sakura's sensei so that she wouldn't lose control "Come on you two, Sakura-chan has a pretty iron clad control over it" Genma piped up suddenly and getting them focused again.

"Besides I doubt it did to much damage considering, look at those tracks" he pointed nonchalantly at the massive paw prints and the human ones as they led out of the destroyed camp, several hours later they came across a pile of ashes.

Yamato sighed "Looks like the beast gave Sakura-san control back after she'd finished incinerating whoever this was, I have a feeling that creature is a lot more protective than we give her credit for, considering that no other places are scorched or damaged" he concluded his analysis of the area.

"We should hurry to Hidden Cloud" Inoichi ushered the two other males as they hastened their pace in the direction of Lightning Country in hopes to find the pinkette that was on their team 'Please let us find her' he prayed once again hoping the kami would hear his plea and protect the pinkette from harm.

Four hours after Sakura blacked out in front of the Hidden Cloud Village gates, the pinkette blinked awake in a white room, it took a few minutes for her eyes to focus and when they did Sakura shot out of the bed she was resting in and pressed herself against the wall.

At this Matatabi emerged 'Calm down Koneko-chan, the Raikage and his men put you in the hospital so that you wouldn't be disturbed, also there are a few things I have to tell you' the feline tailed beast murmured ashamed of herself for keeping this secret for so long.

Sakura lowered herself onto the bed again doing as her tailed beast suggested 'Okay Matatabi-chan what is going on, why did you have me come here, who is that person that guy mentioned Yugito-san and how is she connected to you' she rattled off question after question.

The two tailed cat paced and sighed 'I'll answer you're questions to the best of my abilities okay Sakura-chan' Matatabi murmured 'Right so the reason I had you come here was because this was my former village' she started.

'Yugito Ni was my former host and you're birth mother koneko-chan, that's why I protect you so fiercely, I don't really know what's going to happen or what's going on but surely Lord Raikage won't keep you here' Matatabi frowned as she finished.

Shock registered in her mind as the door slammed open and an extremely dark skinned white haired male barged into the room with a sneer on his face, Sakura unknowingly because of recent events let out a blood curdling scream and dove beneath the bed.

Ay covered his face with his hand and let out a groan "Yo bro what did you do to scare pinky over there" Bee danced into the room as he pointed to the empty bed, the taller man shook his head a grimace on his lips and moved over to the wall.

Meanwhile seeing as he had better experience calming scared kids down, Cee slowly inched his way to the bed his patient had been sleeping on and bent until he could look underneath the bed "It's okay Lord Raikage won't hurt you" he soothed holding out his hand.

Wary of the blonde, Sakura curled in on herself further 'What do I do Matatabi-chan' she sniffled to her body mate and the giant cat sighed before nudging the pinkette to take the blonde's hand and so Sakura carefully let the man pull her out from beneath the bed.

"See now it's not so scary, my name is Cee, I'm a medical ninja from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, what's you're name" Cee skipped straight into trying to interrogate the pinkette but worded his question in a way that it would hopefully make the girl trust him a little more.

Unsure of what to do, Sakura scuffed her shoe on the floor and shuffled awkwardly "Sakura Haruno" she whispered in an extremely small voice, Cee had to strain his ears just to hear her and he realized that more damage had been done to her than the bruises he had found and healed.

"Okay Sakura-san, where are you from and why are you all the way in Lightning Country" though Cee pressed on, the sooner they got the information they needed from her the sooner they could get her home and out of their country.

Hunching her shoulders the pinkette bit her lip "I'm from the Leaf Village, and human traffickers took me, this is my first time outside the village and so I got lost" Sakura murmured sheepishly as tears welled in her emerald eyes, this time she refused to let them fall.

Ay frowned, so the Cloud Village wasn't the only one dealing with the problem of Human Traffickers, and this girl was a victim, the only one that's gotten away somehow at least and if Bee was right then it wasn't a question as to how, more like what had caused the beast to go berserk.

"And tell me little girl" he strode up to her and she leaped away from him pressing herself against the wall eyes wide in fright, Ay froze and took a cautious step back then tried relaxing his features, this caused the pinkette to relax a little.

She had her suspicions on what the man was about to ask so when he didn't say anything for several minutes Sakura opened her mouth "Um Lo...Lord Raikage sir, what that guy said about Yugito-san, I'm her d..daughter" she stuttered.

Bee shook his head "So where is Yugito-san and why do you have two tails sealed inside of you" Ay questioned holding himself back, she was talking to them and that's all they had to work with at the moment, if he made any sudden moves she would curl in on herself and blank them.

Sakura pushed her fingers together shyly "Mo...mom died after giving birth to me that's why Matat...the two tails was sealed inside of me" she swallowed thickly, it was hard calling someone else her mom after saying it to Mebuki Haruno her entire life.

"So if you're Yugito's daughter then how come you have a different last name or is that the name of the father" Darui waltzed into the room, Sakura became even more nervous "Don't worry kid, won't hurt ya" he promised and the pinkette kept herself pressed against the wall.

But she still answered his question "No, I don't know my birth father, Haruno is the name I was given after I was adopted by a couple who couldn't have their own children, you met my parents a few weeks ago, Kizashi and Mebuki, their traveling merchants" Sakura explained.

Ay nodded in answer "I remember them, they kept insisting for me to buy something so I did and gave them two rocks from my pond" he snorted and Sakura ground her teeth, not angry with the Raikage but at her parents for being such fools.

He groaned a moment later "Right then we should contact you're village and let them know where you are and that you're safe" Ay left the hospital room "Oh you're free to go as well, but I'd stick close to someone" he pointed at Bee and Sakura nodded in understanding.

Glad that it was someone who gave her such a calming feeling, Sakura literally attached herself to the older man's hip and followed him from the hospital and down the streets to a training field where he proceeded to practice with his swords.

Remembering her own, Sakura dug into her pouch just realizing she still had them on her after Sasori had given her a few kunai and unsealed them "Um mister do you think you could show me a few tricks" Sakura asked holding up the tantou swords.

Bee stopped in his practice "Sure pinky but remember I don't go easy and you have to rap with me" spewed from his mouth and Sakura cringed but steeled her nerves, inwardly she was thinking it wouldn't be to bad especially if she got training out of it.

"I'm down with that mister, though I've never rapped before I will certainly try how's that" Sakura grinned finding rapping just a tiny bit fun and if Sasuke ever got on her nerves she knew what she could do to drive him insane, start spouting random raps.

"Not bad, not bad, though you still have a long ways to go before you become a rapping champion, I'm the Rappin Killer Bee and it's nice to meet you Sakura Ni" Bee nodded introducing himself though he could tell it shocked her when he used her birth mothers last name instead of her adopted.

Sakura smiled as she held her two tantou swords out properly like Genma had instructed "You know I like that last name Ni, it' has a great ring to it, thank you Killer Bee and now let the training commence" she giggled softly.

Bee didn't say anything instead choosing simply to leap forward and being careful clashed his own sword against Sakura's "You have a good grip, though you're strength is weak, no matter by the time I'm through you'll be a sword master how does that sound" he offered.

The pinkette nodded her head eagerly as Bee had her run through a bunch of different swings and the angles in which to swing, the power to use and how to get the upper hand when you're opponent has more knowledge than you.

Five hours of nonstop training and random raps erupted on the training field as Sakura slowly got better at wielding her dual swords until Darui came to tell them that Ay wanted her in his office and that Bee had to go home.

Sakura put away her swords and trailed a few feet behind Darui, the only reason she had been so relaxed was because whenever she came in contact with another tailed beast host a nostalgic feeling would swell within her chest and have her remain calm.

But now without Bee's calming influence, the pinkette was slowly growing more nervous and frightened with each step she took towards the Raikage Tower by the time they made it to the building Sakura was trembling so much so that she missed Darui stopping and slammed right into his back.

"I know this is scary for you being in another village away from you're friends and family none of us will hurt you kid so just relax" he turned a small smile playing on his face and leaned down to to her level to make sure she understood.

The pinkette nodded slowly "Thank you" Sakura smiled as best she could in this moment she really hoped someone was going to come and get her because she really wanted to go home and never leave the Leaf Village again.

Darui patted Sakura on the forehead and led her into the building and down the long circular halls to Ay's office "Now go on in" he nudged her in and Sakura went without fuss, next to the door was Cee so he took up his own post to ward off any visitors for the time being.

"How was she" Cee couldn't help but ask, sue him so he was worried about the girl, a lot of people would be if someone randomly showed up and then passed out because of exhaustion, not to mention the information she revealed about being Yugito's birth daughter.

The white haired male grimaced "Terrified, it seems the only person she feels comfortable around is Bee and I'm guessing that's only because he has the eight tails sealed inside of him" Darui stated in a flat tone, when he found those human traffickers he was going to kill them.

Cee nodded it was a plausible explanation, with that the two fell silent and jumped out of the way when they saw Ay stalking down the halls "Is she inside" he growled and Darui nodded, the man softened his features as best he could and headed in.

Sakura craned her neck around eyes wide when the door swung open much more softly this time and she was able to control her fear a little better "You wanted to see me Lord Raikage sir" she asked in a soft voice not being able to muster up much confidence.

"I did brat, seeing as you mostly come from Cloud Village descent I have a proposition for you're village, not only that but.." Ay trailed off not sure how he was going to tell her the next part of his explanation, it wasn't going to be easy.

She scooted to the edge of her chair to get as close as she could, whatever he was about to tell her she felt as if it was going to change her life "Technically kid, since Yugito was a cousin of mine distant cousin at that, that makes you and I related" Ay finished.

Sakura gasped and covered her mouth with her hands "How did everything get so messed up" she sighed tiredly she had real family living and yet this is the first time she'd met any of them not to mention being of Cloud Village descent it was all to much for her.

"Right so I've sent a messenger hawk to the Leaf Village and someone should be on their way shortly, it will probably take a week, but me and my men will be going with you back to you're village to negotiate a deal" Ay steepled his fingers on his desk and leaned his head on his hand.

Curious "What kind of deal Lord Raikage sir" Sakura asked much more calmly this time, the longer she spent in Ay's presence, the more she felt comfortable until she forgot what she had been so afraid of in the first place, though Sakura was sure that once she left that would be a problem again.

Ay mulled his thoughts over in his head for a moment before answering "There's this training for tailed beast hosts that we have here in the Cloud Village and I want to subject you to that training so that you can control you're beast" he stated.

Sakura straightened "I don't think I need it, not to be rude Lord Raikage sir, but Matatabi-chan and I get along pretty well and she's really protective over me" she smiled sheepishly, Ay blinked at her in confusion "So she killed the human traffickers that abducted me from my village" Sakura tried.

Freezing in terror, Ay gazed at his newly discovered relative 'That's why she was so exhausted' he thought never mind the girl had back talked him "In any case I still recommend you go through it, that will erase the exhaustion you felt after she gave you back command over you're body" he offered.

Becoming more interested now "And how long will this training take" Sakura asked shyly and Ay had to hold back his smirk, of course she was curious, she was just like Yugito had been at that age, then he had to wonder who was the girls father.

"A few weeks at the best, but I'm not saying you have to stay in my village just yet maybe a couple months down the road" Ay supplied and Sakura relaxed in her chair emerald eyes lighting up in excitement at the prospect to learn more about herself.

Suddenly his mind flashed back to a man with purple hair and those same emerald eyes "You know I think I might just know who you're birth father is" Ay stood and Sakura looked at him in confusion, he ignored her for the moment and went to his office door pulling it open to bark out an order.

It closed a moment later and Sakura's mind finally caught on to what the Raikage had said "You mean that Lord Raikage sir" she was practically shaking in her seat, she wasn't sure if she could do this, Ay nodded and Sakura swallowed nervously trying her best to remain calm.

Several minutes passed until the door was opened to admit another person into the room, Sakura turned in her seat to eye him and noted that he had the same shade of green eyes that she did "You wanted to see me Lord Raikage" the man asked bending at the waist.

"Yes and now this might sound personal but did you ever have a relationship with Yugito Ni" Ay stared the purple haired man down until he sighed and finally nodded "Were you aware she was pregnant before she left on the mission I assigned her" he prodded.

Here the man tensed and his jaw formed a tick "Yeah I told her to abort the blasted thing but she refused and left, if there is nothing else Lord Raikage, I need to get back" he said as politely as he could while waiting to be dismissed.

Ay glanced towards the pinkette in his office and noticed her heart broken expression "No, nothing else you may go now" he ordered and the man left "I'm sure Yugito loved you, she had to of to make sure nothing would happen to you" Ay supplied to sooth the girl.

Sakura smiled sadly "So I guess I can only count on you right Lord Raikage sir" she asked in repressed amusement and Ay frowned wondering what she was talking about, then he could have slapped himself as he realized it a moment later.

"Don't think you'll get away with anything brat, we may be related in some way you still have to go back to you're village" Ay huffed and the pinkette gave him a watery grin and slumped tiredly in her seat "Darui tells me that you were training with Bee how did that go" he asked to make light conversation.

Like he thought she straightened "Amazing I've always wanted to learn how to wield swords properly and thanks to Bee-san, I can go home with more knowledge" Sakura chattered softly and Ay couldn't help but chuckle in response.

"You truly remind me of Yugito, right then I'll let you go" Ay paused "And you can have Darui show you the way to my place, can't have an important guest out on the streets" he smirked and Sakura smiled sweetly as she hopped out of her chair and followed him to the door.

Out in the hall Ay gave Darui express permission to lead Sakura to his personal home and the two left, the pinkette looking severely out of place, once they were gone, he headed back into his office to get some work done, he wasn't one to slack off.

Bee opened the door and ushered his new friend in after Darui told him that Ay had basically said she was to stay there "Alright Sakura this way, best to stay clear of that and that and that, and that to" he rapped lightly knowing that the pinkette was tired and it was better to get certain things done.

"I understand Bee-san, and thank you for teaching me, I'm gonna take a nap if you don't mind" Sakura forgot to rap completely and Bee said nothing as he helped her climb into the humongous bed after taking off her sandals, he watched as Sakura's breathing evened out and soft snores filled the room.

In the Hidden Leaf Village, Hiruzen was sitting at his desk doing paperwork when one of his shinobi barged into the room holding a message "It's from Lord Raikage in the Hidden Cloud" the man panted as he put the message on his desk.

Furrowing his brows in confusion wondering what Unruly Ay wanted with him now, Hiruzen unfolded the sheet and read down it before his eyes grew wide, "Thank you" he smiled setting the paper down, Sakura was safe and sound within the Cloud Village, that was a relief.

"Sir Naruto Uzumaki is kicking up a fuss in town, he says some girl named Sakura Haruno has gone missing" another shinobi barged into his office with the blonde in tow, his blue eyes were determined and there was frown on his lips while his whiskered cheeks were puffed up.

Hiruzen smiled at the preteen boy "Don't worry Naruto-kun, Sakura-san is just fine in fact she'll be back in a couple weeks time, she's out on a mission with her team" he quickly soothed the boy and Naruto's upset disappeared.

In fact the blonde completely relaxed and released a sigh of relief "Thank god, Sakura-chan is my only friend you know and I miss her a lot" Naruto rubbed his arms, it had been hard not seeing the pinkette on a daily basis like he was use to and he was having withdrawals from not being in her presence.

"Now run along Naruto-kun" the Hokage shooed the boy out of his office along with the others that had congregated so that he could get back to work, Naruto dashed from the office accepting the fact that his only friend was not in the village, never mind that she had in fact been kidnapped.

Hiruzen didn't know what he would have told the blonde if the Raikage hadn't sent him that message telling him that Sakura was in the cloud village, that would have been disastrous for not only the Leaf Village but for the other ones as well.

Still days away from the Cloud Village, Inoichi, Yamato and Genma stopped for the night to rest and regain their strength, they would be no use to the pinkette if they were exhausted "Hey do you think she's alright" Genma asked as they ate their dinner.

Yamato rubbed his face "After being taken over by her tailed beast and walking several miles to who knows where, I have no clue anymore" he sighed chewing on his fish, he didn't really have much of an appetite, and he doubted he would have one until Sakura was back safe and sound with them.

Genma grimaced at that, they had been assigned this mission to make sure nothing happened to the second tailed beast in the Leaf Village, they should have been keeping a closer eye on Sakura so that this could have been prevented, he gritted his teeth, they were so stupid.

Inoichi stared into the fire silently, he knew that if they didn't return with Sakura, Ino was going to kick up a fuss, despite how much his daughter pretended that she didn't like the pinkette anymore, he knew it wasn't true because Ino would go on long rants about how Sakura was really pretty and all that.

"Okay you two enough talking, we should get some rest, all we can do right now is hope that Sakura is alright and that she's safe where ever she is" Inoichi clapped his hands before dousing the fire, they didn't need to draw unneeded attention to their little camp.

The next morning the trio quickly ate breakfast before packing up, they felt well rested and so renewed their efforts in traversing Lightning Country to reach the Hidden Cloud Village as fast as they could, the Hokage had given them a deadline and they were going to make it no matter what.

Meanwhile Sakura was waking after sleeping through the rest of the day before and all night, she felt better and no longer drained like before, so she quickly hopped out of bed and padded across the floor to the door and peeked out to try and determine what time it was.

Ay was awake reading the morning paper and drinking a cup of black coffee, when the pinkette he had nearly forgotten about poked her head around the corner, he almost spat out his coffee "Brat" Ay grumbled as she smiled nervously.

"Ah um good morning Raikage-sama" Sakura mumbled as she came into the kitchen and sat at the table across from her newly discovered distant relative, it was bizarre but she wasn't going to complain, she didn't want to get squished after all.

He blinked his onyx eyes at her before snorting, at least she was polite that's all that mattered "Whatever kid, there's coffee if you like it afraid we don't cook around here" Ay huffed as he flipped a page on his paper and took another sip of his coffee.

Sakura bit her lip "If..." she trailed off shyly when Ay focused those eyes on her again "If you don't mind Raikage-sama, I could make breakfast for us" she offered as confidently as she could, never mind that she wanted to show off some of her skills in the kitchen.

Ay shrugged "Do whatever brat, if that's what you want" he put down his paper after finding nothing in it of importance and watched the pinkette he had allowed to stay in his home pad around his kitchen familiarizing herself with objects and looking for certain cooking items.

This took ten minutes before she cracked her knuckles and started pulling out ingredients setting them up on the stove and mixing things together, until twenty minutes, thirty after she had asked, Sakura set a steaming pile of pancakes on the table.

Next came scrambled eggs, sausage patties, homemade strawberry sauce and ginger tea, just enough for one person, Sakura sat down and prepared to dig in when she stopped remembering to mind her manners "Would you like some sir" Sakura asked as sweetly as possible.

Jaw dropping in shock, never having seen such an elaborate breakfast like this seeing as he was to busy most days to even eat, Ay contemplated the pinkette's offer before deciding why the heck not "Sure brat" he stated before quickly piling his plate full.

Sakura grinned and quickly got her own plate fixed to her preferred liking and cut into the sausage patties and then stacked it on her fork and got a bite of pancakes then scooped some eggs on top as neatly as possible and stuffed it in her mouth chewing with her mouth closed and nodding at the taste.

She wasn't the only one enjoying the different flavors of their breakfast and Ay was scarfing his down like a hungry animal, though with more finesse until his entire plate was cleared and his stomach was full and near bursting.

Before he could even ask where she had learned how to cook like that, Sakura set down her fork, her plate half clear "I taught myself, seeing as my adopted parents were gone more often than not" she quickly said before picking up her fork again to continue eating.

Ay narrowed his eyes "Yesterday you looked angry when I mentioned how I gave you're parents rocks from my pond why" he suddenly asked and Sakura reeled back obviously not having realized that he had noticed her pissed off look.

She tugged at the collar of her shirt and cleared her throat "Well, they gave those rocks to me for a congratulations on becoming a genin gift" Sakura sulked lightly and Ay grimaced "I put them in a pond" she finished lowering her head feeling terrible in that moment.

"Don't worry about it kid, those weren't gift material anyway" he shook his head and Sakura sent him a strange look that he quickly ignored "Bee should be up soon, eat the rest of you're breakfast, explore the village just behave" Ay warned before leaving to start his daily work in the office.

Fifteen minutes after the Raikage had left, Sakura hopped out of her chair prepared to do dishes, when Bee waltzed into the kitchen a rap already falling from his lips "Yo good morning pinky, something smells good did bro make all this yo" he did a little jig in the kitchen and Sakura giggled.

"Actually Bee-san, all this goes to me, I offered and he agreed, you're welcome to the rest, I left it for you and I thought we could do a bit of training after how's that" Sakura did her own rap as she washed the dishes that had been used already and dried them before putting all of it away.

In that time Bee sat at the table and started piling what remained of breakfast on his plate, it was still somewhat warm and extremely delicious "Sounds good, and then after we can go exploring yo" he suggested and Sakura nodded as she sat down at the table again to wait.

"That's perfect and it will give me a chance to see the village my birth mother lived her whole life in" Sakura clapped her hand in excitement pulling a smile from Bee, over night she had accepted the fact that she wasn't her parent's daughter, she was someone else's daughter.

Bee nodded not commenting on the fact that Sakura hadn't rapped that time, she didn't have to if she didn't want to after all and continued eating, when he was done, the pinkette grabbed up his dishes and quickly washed, dried and put them all away until the kitchen was neat and tidy again.

"Ready pinky" he held out his head and Sakura didn't hesitate in taking it as he led her from the massive house and down the streets to the training field they had used the day before to get in a little practice before exploring the village.


	5. Enough Is Enough

For three days Sakura continued the routine she had set up in the Hidden Cloud Village, in the morning she would sit and talk with Ay learning more about her birth mother and make breakfast, then she would either go train or explore the village with Bee.

That was until her fifth day in the village everything changed, Sakura felt confident enough to walk down the street of the Cloud Village, home of her birth mother and she was heading back to Ay's house where she had taken up temporary residence.

She was walking by an alley when arms appeared from within and cracked Sakura over the back of the head, she hadn't realized that there were more Human Traffickers and they had, had their eye on her since Darui had carried her through the village on the first day.

So no one was the wiser as she was once again dragged out of a village she felt comfortable in headed on a straight course to the Hidden Rain Village where the person who had paid a lot of money for her was waiting, though she would never make it to that man.

When Inoichi, Genma and Yamato reached the Hidden Cloud Village three hours after Sakura had been taken again, Ay was raging through the streets, until he stumbled across them, he snarled and charged towards them onyx eyes filled with fury.

"Are you the ones the Hokage sent to pick up that pink brat" he snapped and the blonde he was addressing jumped back in surprise "To late, those traffickers got to her again" Ay ranted tearing down the streets back to his office.

The three males shared a look before taking off after the Raikage, Sakura had been in the village but they had gotten there to late, why did things keep happening to the girl, it was ridiculous, which brought the question as to why the Raikage even cared about a measly girl from another village.

Once again miles away from any village, Sakura was slowly waking after for the second time being whacked over the head and getting knocked out, this time though she was bound head to toe in rope and couldn't even wriggle her fingers the bindings were so tight.

"Hehehe so the little girl awakens" a man's voice came from the right in a biting tone and Sakura twisted her neck at a painful degree to glare at him "You can hate me all you want brat, I'm just doing my job" he sneered and Sakura kept their gazes locked until he finally turned his head away.

Sakura gave an inward smile of triumph, she wouldn't let anyone cow her into submission, that was something she had picked up from the Raikage, they were related after all, "Oh thanks goddess Koneko-chan, I was worried' Matatabi emerged.

'Why does this keep happening to me' Sakura sighed sadly, why couldn't things go back to how they use to be, why couldn't she have been on a team with Naruto, at least that way she knew someone would for certain come to get her.

Matatabi growled in frustration, she couldn't protect her host at all, maybe it was her pink hair that drew bad people to Sakura in flocks, but the minute she could she was taking over and killing these men and taking her back to the Hidden Cloud Village.

She didn't have a chance as Sakura was knocked out again and she was sealed inside with no way to claw her way out, 'Damn humans, this is why I hate them' Matatabi snarled pacing the confines of her host's blacked out mind.

Two and a half days, that's how long she had been taken from the Hidden Cloud Village, Inoichi felt terrible, they had gotten there to late and now Sakura was lost to them, possibly for good this time, Yamato and Genma weren't faring well either as they paced the length of their hotel room.

Ay had said they would come speak to them today, he was vague on the time though so they were all waiting for some sign that he was coming, they didn't have to wait very long as the dark skinned man busted his way into the hotel slamming the door open with a loud crack.

"I know that you three aren't my shinobi, but I'm ordering you lot to get you're asses in gear and head to Hidden Rain, that's the direction they were headed in, a traveler showed up in my office today" Ay barked and Yamato's eyes widened.

Before Ay could say anything else "Why do you care so much about Sakura-chan anyway" Genma was leaned against the wall a senbon in his mouth and chewing on the end of the needle furiously, the Raikage blinked at him in realization.

Dark chuckles filled the air "You're aware that Sakura is the daughter of a woman named Yugito Ni right" Ay paused and the trio nodded "Well that woman came from this village and happened to be a distant relative of mine, so what would that make the pink brat" he sneered.

Inoichi felt sick to his stomach, "Right we understand Lord Raikage, we'll find Sakura-san and make sure she get's home safely, is there any message you want us to relay to her when we get her back" he asked situating his pack onto his shoulders.

"Yeah tell the brat that I'll see her in a couple of weeks after you get her back, to talk to you're hokage, there are some things, he and I need to speak about" Ay snapped and the trio of males sped out of the hotel and payed for their rent after dropping off the key.

Soon they were well on their way to the Hidden Rain Village, but the Human Traffickers had a head start on them and they were sure to arrive way after, it would be difficult because the Rain Village was dangerous territory and rumors of rogue's being seen filled the country.

Once they were gone, Ay headed back to his office and scratched another letter to the Hokage to tell him of recent events and that Sakura had been taken once again, he was certain the blonde and the two brunette's would find her but just in case.

"Darui, Cee go with them, if Sakura's injured she'll need medical treatment" Ay barked and the two men jumped out of the office and hurried after the Leaf Shinobi, they were just as concerned for Sakura as he and they were so at least they would be helpful.

As they ran Yamato was inwardly cursing himself, this was so much worse than what Naruto did, Sakura just naturally got in trouble, he had to wonder how had she survived so long, even with them watching her, they still couldn't protect her.

'Damn it, hang on Sakura-san, we're coming just be strong' he prayed glancing over his shoulder as two Cloud Shinobi charged towards them "Did Lord Raikage send you" Yamato asked and they nodded, he sighed in relief, the more help they had the easier it would be to rescue Sakura.

Genma was having similar thoughts, but what was mostly going through his head was the fact that their sole female teammate was related, even if it was distantly at that, to the Raikage, it was crazy but at least he understood the Raikage's anger over her disappearance, she should have been watched.

Inoichi just wanted to get his student back, never mind the fact that she was a tailed beast host, or that she was related to the Raikage, Sakura didn't deserve to be put through all of this, he was certain that she would be traumatized because of this and forever changed.

'Just wait, we'll get you back and that's a promise" Inoichi vowed to himself inwardly as they ran across the lands after the pinkette and her second kidnappers, and when she was safe with them again, he was going to make sure she could never be taken again.

Two and a half more days passed in the same manner, five after Sakura had been taken for the second time by Human Traffickers, they finally arrived in the Hidden Rain Village, the pinkette had woken sometime and was pretending to be asleep, she was still bound though and it was impossible to move.

As they were being let through the gates, behind them Sasori who was returning to the Akatsuki base tilted his head to the side curiously as he spied a bit of pink, he spread out his senses and sighed, as he realized who was hidden underneath the blanket on the cart.

He followed them through the village until they stopped at a hotel, a smirk spread across his lips as four of the five headed in, Sasori made quick work of the last one and ripped the blanket off the cart to reveal just who he suspected.

"Brat" he hissed and Sakura's head snapped up before she swayed, her skin becoming pale "What happened, thought you were heading to the Cloud Village" Sasori raised a red brow at the pinkette but she seemingly ignored him.

She frowned at him a moment later "Was in the Cloud Village, those damn traffickers were there to" Sakura huffed as Sasori hurriedly cut through her ropes and she was freed, she didn't have much more time to speak as the red head grabbed her up and they took to the rooftops.

Sakura was all prepared to scream as her sore body was jarred roughly "You are fucking lucky you little brat" Sasori scowled and she glared emerald clashing with hazel as they leaped across the rooftops heading to wherever he was taking her.

"Not my damn fault Sasori-san, how I wish I had been born with brown hair but no I have to have stupid pink" Sakura scowled right back at the red head, soon though Sasori jerked her head down as they ducked behind a roof to avoid being seen.

Sasori was angry as he looked over the damage that had been dealt to the pinkette he wanted to make into a puppet when she was older, he had decided that if he ever came across her again and if she was in trouble, he would protect her.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, he couldn't take her to the Akatsuki hideout could he, maybe if he spoke with Pein "Wait here brat, and whatever you do don't fucking move" he snapped and Sakura flinched away from him as he raised his hand to do a hand sign.

A tick formed on his jaw and he ground his teeth together "Okay Sasori-san, I promise" Sakura stuttered as he jumped to the street's below and took off as fast as he could, he didn't want to leave her on her own after all especially since she had a tendency to get in trouble if no one was watching her.

Making it to the base in record time Sasori sped down the halls and knocked as politely on Pein's door as he could, it swung open to reveal the orange haired shinobi himself, purple ringed eyes already locked onto his dripping wet form.

"I've found a brat, can she stay here, I'll keep her away from the others until someone from her village comes to collect her and I won't reveal to her anything" spewed from the red heads mouth and Pein sighed knowing that Sasori wouldn't relent.

"Fine but remember it's you're responsibility if she goes wandering she's as good as dead" Pein snapped and Sasori bowed and dashed from his office presumably to fetch the girl he was adamant about having stay with him in the base.

It was freezing cold and Sakura shivered did she dare hope that Sasori would actually come back for her, or would he leave her to, he was all she had to rely on at this moment in time after all, a sneeze came and she rubbed her arms as the rain soaked into her thin clothes.

A moment passed and Sasori appeared before her again "Hey brat" he opened his arms and Sakura wasted no time in stepping into them "Gonna take you someplace warm, keep you're eyes closed and mouth shut" the red head warned and she nodded.

"K" Sakura murmured as her eyes slid shut, she was still cold but at least she would be somewhere dry soon, Sasori gripped her to him and he jumped to the streets again speeding down them like he had before until he reached the base and dashed down the halls to his rooms.

When her feet touched the ground, Sakura bit her lip, she so badly wanted to open her eyes but Sasori hadn't given her the go ahead, she heard him rifling through what could possibly be a closet and then something landed on top of her head.

"Open you're eyes brat, go take a shower, bathrooms there, get dressed in those and then get under the covers" Sasori ordered and being a good little girl did as he told her, she was obedient and it pleased him somewhat, she would be a wonderful puppet when she was older if this kept up.

He was actually contemplating keeping her, but he knew Pein would never allow it, so instead Sasori sat down at his work desk and started messing about with his puppets to pass the time, twenty minutes later Sakura emerged from the bathroom wearing one of his long shirts that went to her calf's.

She was so tiny, he realized as she crawled onto his large bed and slid underneath the covers, her long pink hair spreading out like a halo around her head as she rested it on his pillows, Sasori watched as her breathing evened out and she was soon asleep.

He kept himself occupied throughout the night feeling no need to sleep, he never knew when that idiot partner of his might try to prank him again, that was an unnecessary headache he didn't need and Sasori knew that Sakura would be less than happy to be disturbed.

Heck, he didn't want her disturbed either, soon night turned into day and Sakura began waking, her eyes fluttered open and she sat up on his bed stretching her arms high above her head a sigh falling from her lips, then she turned her head towards him and gave him a soft smile.

"Uh good morning Sasori-san" Sakura greeted quietly feeling as if she was disturbing the man in someway, he huffed nodded and turned back to what he had been doing, then Sasori swung towards her again lips pressed into a thin line.

Sakura squeaked in surprise as the red head stood "You aren't to leave this room alright, keep the door locked, only I have the key" Sasori demanded and she nodded shakily as he stalked towards the door and yanked it open and stepped out into the hall.

Doing as told, Sakura leaped from the bed and locked it quickly, 'Do you think I should keep trusting Sasori-san, Matatabi-chan' she sunk into her thoughts calling out to the two tailed cat that was sealed within her, it took a few moments before she emerged.

'I sense evil within him, but for now he is all you have to rely on, just keep acting as if you are oblivious, do as he says and once you're teammates come for you, forget him completely but him out of you're mind' Matatabi shared her thoughts with her host.

The pinkette bit her lip harshly and chewed it until it was red and raw, she began pacing the length of the room until her eyes drifted to the desk Sasori had been seated at, curious, Sakura creeped towards the desk and peered at the contents before realizing it was a puppet.

Intrigued, Sakura lifted it's arm and ran her fingers over the texture, it felt surprisingly human, was it possible that humans could be turned into puppets, if so how and did they work like regular puppets or were they different.

Before Sasori came back, Sakura placed the puppets arm back in it's previous place and sat down on the edge of the bed, a moment later the door swung open to reveal Sasori carrying a tray of food, at the sight her stomach gave a loud rumble and her cheeks turned pink in embarrassment.

Sasori raised a brow at the pinkette in his room and settled the tray in front of her then sat down at his desk again, his eye twitched in irritation "Did you touch my things" he spun around to face her as she went to take her first bite of food in days.

Stomach twisting in knots Sakura lowered her head in shame "Um yes, I'm sorry Sasori-san, I was merely curious, is it human" she asked sheepishly and Sasori blinked his hazel eyes in confusion before he started chuckling in amusement.

"You're lucky brat that I don't kill you and as for you're inquiry yes it's human, how could you tell" he asked wanting to figure out what she had gleamed from just touching the puppet, Sakura's emerald eyes lit up in excitement.

"Well the texture of the skin it's not like a regular puppet, it's soft like skin which leads me to believe you aren't finished yet, so what makes a human puppet so different, how do you even make it" Sakura stated practically dying with the need to know how it was possible to create such a thing.

His brows shot into his hairline, Sasori hadn't expected the pinkette to be so interested in the thought of creating a human puppet "I can teach you, but you must never, and I mean never tell anyone" he mused aloud and Sakura clapped her hands together eagerly.

For two days, Sasori taught her all he knew about creating human puppets, until Pein called him to his office, "I sense the presence of several people infiltrating the village, I presume they are here for the girl" he stared at the red head who sighed in understanding.

Once dismissed, the red head headed back to his room and found Sakura tinkering with a regular puppet, she was a curious little thing and absorbed his teachings like a sponge "You're team is here" he spoke and the pinkette whirled on him emerald eyes wide and glittering with tears.

"Do I have to close my eyes again" Sakura asked and Sasori nodded, she looked at the puppets and resolved to learn more once she was back, she could learn after all, he had told her she could, "Okay" Sakura smiled even though Sasori wasn't one of the good guys as she'd found out.

She felt safe with him, surprisingly, Sasori wrapped his arms around the petite pinkette and picked her up then he quickly sped down the halls off the base until they were outside, "You can open you're eyes now brat" Sasori said in a rough voice, he hated to see her go, she would be an excellent apprentice.

"Um thanks Sasori-san for helping me and I promise to continue learning all I can about puppets and maybe the next time we meet, I can show you all I've learned" Sakura smiled as he set her on her feet, he shook his head a chuckle falling from his lips.

Sakura felt the incoming chakra of five familiar people, when she turned to look at the red head he was gone, before she could sigh, she was swept into the arms of Genma "Sakura-chan" he practically shouted in her ear and she cringed at the loud volume.

"I can hear you Genma-san, there's no need to shout" Sakura deadpanned before giggling at his confused expression "I'm okay though I do want to go home" she yawned tiredly, she was tired of being out of her village and ready to be back.

Inoichi released a sigh of relief and rubbed Sakura on the head gently "Glad you're okay Sakura-san" he gave her a small smile as he took her by the shoulders and directed her to the gates, the guard hadn't wanted to let them through but a command from the Leader of the Village had come and they were let through anyway.

"Yeah, we've been searching everywhere even Lord Raikage was upset that you got taken" Yamato spoke up from her left, the rigidness of his shoulders told Sakura that he wouldn't relax until they were back safely in the Leaf Village.

Cee gazed at the pinkette and relaxed, she didn't seem to be injured to badly, a few bruises here and there, he shared a look with Darui "We'll escort you to you're village, Lord Raikage told us to tell you that he would see you in the Leaf Village in a couple weeks" Darui spoke.

Sakura's head snapped in their direction "Oh I'm sorry, this is all my fault if only I hadn't gone wondering off like an idiot by myself perhaps all this wouldn't have happened" she lowered her gaze to the ground feeling like a moron.

"Don't worry about it Sakura-san, how could you have known that there were human traffickers in the Cloud Village" Cee was quick to reassure the pinkette that no harm was done and that it most certainly wasn't her fault that she had been kidnapped not just once but twice in the span of a couple of weeks.

Though his words did nothing to cheer her up and Sakura remained angry at herself all the way back to the Leaf Village, when they passed through the gates an orange and yellow blur threw itself at her with a shrill scream.

"SAKURA-CHAN, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO COME BACK FOREVER" Naruto shrieked busting Sakura's eardrums with the extremely loud volume as she realized that it was her friend that had tackled her to the ground.

She grimaced not sure what to tell the blonde "Yeah it was a long mission sorry Naruto" Sakura smiled lying to the boy's face, her words made Naruto sigh in relief though and that put her at ease, he didn't need to know the truth.

The five of them made their way to the Hokage Tower, already within was Ay he hadn't been able to wait and so had made his way directly to the Leaf Village, so when he spotted Sakura, he shot off the couch and grabbed Sakura roughly in a hug.

"Stupid brat making me worry, I already lost Yugito, don't need to lose anymore family" he grumbled angrily and Sakura laughed nervously before twisting her head around to peer at her Hokage, he was eyeing them with a strange look in his eyes.

When he caught her gaze he took a puff from his pipe and released the smoke slowly until it swirled through the open window "Welcome back Sakura-san, I'm sure you've been through quite the ordeal so we'll make this meeting short" Hiruzen spoke steepling his fingers together on his desk.

Ay set her down properly on her feet and she sat in the chair in front of the mahogany desk "Is this about me being related to Lord Raikage, or that he wants me to train to learn how to control my tailed beast" she inquired knowingly.

Hiruzen blinked his eyes rapidly "Both" he breathed, Sakura was quick witted that was for certain "Every few months, you'll be escorted to the Hidden Cloud Village to spend a week learning you're true roots" Hiruzen relented to the first of Ay's requests.

Sakura nodded in understanding and relaxed in her chair, at least she didn't have to give up completely on learning more about her real family, she'd already lost enough of her innocence, she didn't need to lose anything more.

"However, I see no reason for you to train, you already have surprising control over you're beast" Hiruzen paused as growl filled his office from Ay, but he kept his eyes focused on the pinkette wanting to see and hear her reaction to his words.

She pressed her lips together keeping her head down for the moment 'Tell him Koneko-chan what you want' Matatabi urged her to speak her mind, but she didn't want to be rude, Sakura feared getting punished because she had spoken out of turn.

But, "Lord Hokage, when Matatabi-chan took over my body and killed the first two that kidnapped me, I was so exhausted, Lord Raikage told me that by going through this training, that, that problem would be erased and I'd be more beneficial to this village and it's protection" Sakura lifted her chin high.

Ay bit the inside of his cheek, the brat sure was cheeky, though she made a valid point and Hiruzen couldn't argue back, Hiruzen smirked as if he had expected such a response and nodded "Very well then you're first visit in a couple months time will be three weeks long to undergo this training" he relented.

"Now I'm sure you're very tired so I'll dismiss you Sakura-san, go home get some rest" he shooed her from his office before facing the others going over details of her two kidnappings and want to do to put protection in place to prevent such a thing.

It was night by the time everyone was dismissed to go home or to a hotel to rest up, Sakura had been asleep long before any of them, Ay followed her chakra trail and snuck into her house to check up on her, he gave a small sigh of relief before heading back to the hotel.

Weeks flowed by as Sakura went on D rank mission after D rank mission with her team and trained with her sensei, even checking out library books on Puppetry so she could learn more, though since the Leaf Village didn't have a puppet store, she was out of luck.

Finally the day came where she was to leave the Village for three weeks to undergo special training to gain better control over Matatabi, the two tailed cat was all for it, and it would give her a better understanding of Sakura and learn the pinkette's mannerisms.

She was being escorted by two teams, Kakashi's and her own, this was to prevent anyone attempting to kidnap her, along with him came Naruto, Sasuke and their own female teammate which she learned was named Karin Uzumaki, a distant relative of Naruto's as she turned out to be.

Though she was extremely annoying, and Sasuke barely tolerated her, but he'd rather brave the red haired girl than Sakura and the pinkette couldn't help but snicker at his misfortune of course Naruto wasn't the only one protective over her.

Yamato and Genma had stayed glued to her side never letting her out of their sights for fear that she would be taken again, Sakura didn't mind it though and accepted their presence, they were grateful for that and she couldn't help but smile, they were very nice after all.

"Ready Sakura" Inoichi called as they stopped in front of the gates, all eight of them, Sakura lifted her head in his direction, emerald eyes gleaming with excitement, he was glad to see she hadn't been to traumatized, though the pinkette had changed some, not much.

She nodded eagerly "Yep, I can't wait to train some more" Sakura announced happily taking a step forward to stand between her two teammates, Genma laughed and pulled her in for a quick side hug, Yamato merely shook his head and shot Sakura a small smile.

Inoichi smiled chuckles falling from his own lips, Kakashi gazed at her then at his own team, he knew the truth but four of the genin didn't, meaning Naruto, Sasuke, Karin and especially Sakura herself, she'd probably wig out on all of them if she ever learned the truth.

He shrugged it wasn't his problem "Okay let's move out Naruto, Sasuke, Karin" Kakashi called to his own genin as they started forward, Inoichi leading the way out of the village and in the direction of the Hidden Cloud, it took them a week.

Sakura's eyes lit up as she spotted Ay waiting for them at the gates and without waiting she sped forward "Lord Raikage" she laughed merrily and before he could whack her gave him a hug, she moved back quickly a cheeky smile playing on her lips.

"Brat" Ay rolled his eyes "Ready for that training" he questioned and Sakura practically skipped to his side as he led them through the streets to the Raikage Tower, "It will have to wait a moment" he chuckled at her excitement and Sakura pouted slightly more outgoing than the first time she had been in his village.

Though everyone could tell she was happy to see the man again, Ay sat behind his desk and introductions were made and then he started explaining to Sakura all the details of her training regimen for the three weeks.

Sakura nodded in all the right places before Ay stood again, Inoichi watched her follow him with no hesitation and groaned "Girls are a handful" Kakashi piped up suddenly and the blonde couldn't help but nod in acceptance.


	6. Finding Her Roots Part 1

Upon arriving on Turtle Island, Sakura blinked her emerald eyes 'Wow Matatabi-chan, did you and Mom go through this training to' she couldn't help but ask as she was led through the forest to a small bungalow, with the rest of her team and escort team behind them.

Matatabi smiled 'Yes Koneko-chan, Yugito and I were together from the time she was two, an odd age, though unlike with her you won't have to fight me, it will be as simple as just taking my chakra' she explained the process.

Sakura winced 'I don't want to hurt you Matatabi-chan' she frowned, and the two tailed cat realized how her explanation sounded, Sakura sighed as a hand landed on her shoulder and she looked up into concerned blue-green eyes "Inoichi-sensei" she tilted her head to the side.

"This is where we'll be staying the next three weeks, think you can handle it Sakura-chan" Inoichi gestured to the house, and those emerald eyes lit up in excitement and Sakura nodded eagerly, he smiled while Genma and Yamato chuckled lightly.

She stuck her tongue out at the two boys and they avoided her gaze "Hey Sakura-chan, what kind of training is this anyway, having to sit underneath a waterfall" Naruto jumped into the conversation, latching onto the pinkette.

Glad that the blonde was with her "Oh well it's to help me strengthen my spirit in a way" Sakura lied returning Naruto's hug, she'd been told not to tell Naruto the truth after all and as much as it pained her to lie, she knew it was necessary.

Naruto pouted "It kind of sounds boring, but you were always into weird training idea's" he gave her a whiskered grin and Sakura giggled sheepishly, it was true, there was one time that she'd made Naruto join her on one such training session.

And they'd meditated for hours and hours, until their bottoms were sore from sitting on the ground, "Probably for you Naruto, but this is intriguing for me" Sakura poked his side and he jumped away from her a laugh falling from his lips.

Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes, "Bastard" Naruto scowled, becoming distracted, and Sakura managed to poke his side again "Sakura-chan" he whined, though laughter was bubbling out from between his lips.

"Don't get distracted Naruto-kun" Sakura giggled softly reaching out to do it again, when Karin slid between her and the blonde, a glare in her ruby eyes, "Is there a problem Karin-san" Sakura asked wondering what she'd done to warrant that look.

Karin looked her over and clicked her tongue "You should consider dyeing you're hair it's a menace and no boy will ever want to date you, isn't that right Sasuke-kun" she smiled widely at the Uchiha, who turned his head away and scoffed "See" Karin said smugly.

Inwardly Sakura rolled her eyes 'Sheesh talk about insecure right Matatabi-chan, and oh would you explain that process to me again' she sighed in exasperation before asking her body mate to tell her everything again so that she could understand better.

'That girl is petty, ignore her koneko-chan, and essentially you'll be taking my chakra, it won't hurt me so don't worry, and store it in you're body, thus you'll have complete control over me' Matatabi crossed her paws over each other and yawned.

Sensing that Matatabi was going to take a nap, Sakura left her psyche in time to avoid getting tackled by Karin, thankfully though Kakashi intervened "Hey, hey, hey what's going on" he looked between the two girls.

Sakura was lost as to what was going on, so glanced to the redhead "It's her fault, I told her to leave Sasuke-kun alone and she ignored me" Karin pointed an accusing finger at the pinkette an angry glint in her ruby eyes.

"Excuse me, but I think you got the wrong idea, I'm not one of his little fan girls" Sakura sniffed delicately, offended that she'd been lumped in with the rest of the girls in their class "I have my eyes on someone else" Sakura nodded.

And Naruto just had to open his mouth "Yeah the mysterious yet handsome Utakata-san wasn't it" he sniggered and Sakura huffed poking him in the side one last time and heading over to her two teammates to talk with them for a while.

Yamato and Genma looked up when Sakura plopped down gracefully between them as they sat overlooking the ocean together "How are you doing Sakura-chan, miss home yet" Genma was the first to break the ice so to speak and talk.

"Do you feel sea sick, I'm pretty sure Cee-san is around somewhere" Yamato jumped in not letting Sakura get a word in edgewise as he was overcome with worry for the pinkette, who'd become a friend to him and Genma as well.

Before either males could freak out anymore, Sakura smiled softly "No, not yet, I'm sure I'll miss home sooner or later, but I'm alright for the time being and nope, I actually liked getting to travel on a boat, the rocking motions were so soothing it lulled me right to sleep" she quipped.

Genma and Yamato let out inaudible sighs of relief "Well that's good" Genma stated chewing on a new senbon and before Sakura could protest he pulled the girl in for a quick side hug, none of them had let the girl out of their sights since returning to the Leaf Village.

"Yeah, are you excited to train at the waterfall of truth" Yamato questioned, though Sakura's expression said it all and that she was most definitely excited to try out this new training and hopefully gain complete control over her bijuu.

Sakura nodded "Absolutely Yamato-san" she was practically bouncing in her spot unable to contain her excitement now that she knew that Matatabi wouldn't be hurt in the process, it would be extremely easy and all that would be left would be to train until she could control her new powers.

Inoichi and Kakashi chuckled from their spot by a tree, hearing the squeals from the pinkette, Sakura was completely different from any other girl, she didn't seem to have her head in the clouds, and actually took training seriously.

"Yamato, Sakura, Genma, why don't you three take a moment and train for a bit, while we wait for Lord Raikage to get here" Inoichi called suddenly and the three preteens hopped on their feet, it was enough for Yamato and Genma, but Sakura truly was a little kid, who was very obedient.

Kakashi glanced in the direction of his team and sighed "Why don't you three train with them as well, no slacking off" he ordered and Karin groaned probably having expected this would be like some kind of vacation.

"Oh come on sensei, I thought we were supposed to be the escorts, we can't escort anything if we're tired" the redhead immediately started complaining, but Naruto marched over to the trio and stood in front of Yamato with a grin on his whiskered face.

Hearing the whining of his sole female student, Kakashi snapped his book shut and rested his lone onyx eye on her "Karin, we've already done the escorting part for now, so until we leave here, you three will train now get moving" he pointed "You to Sasuke" Kakashi spied the Uchiha trying to hide.

The boy gave a long suffering sigh, that became aggravated as he realized the only person left who didn't have a sparring partner, since Karin refused, was Sakura 'Great looks like I'm going to get my ass beat' Sasuke scowled inwardly.

"Come on Sasuke, I'd like to train sometime today" Sakura tapped her foot somewhat impatiently as the Uchiha trudged towards her sullenly, until he was stood before her "Finally, now how would you like to spar, weapons or just hand to hand" she asked.

Sasuke passed a hand through his blue black hair "Weapons, no jutsu's" he warned as a catlike smile spread across the pinkette's lips, those blue flames still gave him nightmares from time to time, and he certainly didn't want to encounter them again.

With weapons though he'd be able to defend himself a little better, or that's what he thought as Sakura unsheathed two swords and held them before her properly, Sasuke's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets and he scrambled for his own sword as she leaped forward.

Their blades clashed creating little sparks and Sasuke gulped silently, there was something seriously wrong with the pinkette, he had little time to think as she struck out with her foot and it connected with his shin.

"Against the rules" Sasuke called, and Sakura stopped rolling her eyes, all spars came to a spot and he suddenly realized that he would get no sympathy, actually, what she'd done had been well within the rules of a spar.

Sakura scoffed "Seriously Sasuke, there is nothing wrong about what I just did, in fact I know all the rules of a spar and there's nothing against it so long as that person didn't say no hand to hand was allowed, and since we already began, you can't suddenly decide to say it's against the rules" she stated.

Outnumbered as even his own sensei nodded 'Traitor' his mind supplied, Sasuke scowled inwardly to himself "Fine, let's just get this stupid training over with" he huffed he hadn't wanted to fight her in the first place.

'Ignore him koneko-chan, he's just a petulant brat who doesn't get his way' Matatabi emerged in her mind briefly waking from her nap to comment on Sasuke's attitude, Sakura nodded ducking low under some kunai the boy had slung at her.

'No kidding, and he's always been like this' Sakura sighed kicking out with her foot again trying to sweep Sasuke's feet out from beneath him, he jumped over her leg and back-flipped a safe distance away settling into a defensive stance.

Then Sasuke leaped forward 'Either way koneko-chan, you have the upper hand in this fight, Bee-san taught you quite a bit about overpowering stronger opponents' Matatabi snickered and Sakura bit down on her lip to stifle her own laughter.

Quickly so that he couldn't read her movements in case Sasuke had the sharingan, Sakura gathered a tiny bit of chakra in her fist, not enough to harm and swung her hand forward, her fist connected and Sasuke was knocked back.

He landed roughly on the ground and was slow getting back up rubbing his shoulder, that was already bruising, Sasuke's eyes widened in horror, then glanced at Sakura, she was the picture of concentration, damn if only he hadn't dawdled, he wouldn't be facing her.

Sakura smiled sweetly "What's the matter Sasuke, not afraid to face me are you" she snickered emerald eyes glinting with amusement, she didn't allow him to respond though as she jumped forward making him go on the defensive.

Ten minutes later, their spars came to a screeching halt and Sasuke was all to happy to flee to a spot at least fifteen feet away from the pinkette, Ay and Bee had come back "Alright you lot, Cee and Darui will get you settled in, pink brat with us" Ay barked out.

Hurriedly Sakura put away her swords and took her place next to the two men "Yo, you ready for this pinky, it's gonna be tough so be prepared" Bee rapped lightly glancing down at the little pink haired girl who was now oddly quiet.

"Tough or not I'm prepared, no matter what I'll succeed because people are counting on me" Sakura did her own rap, suddenly remembering something, next time Sasuke decided to pull that stunt he did earlier, she was so going to get revenge on him.

Bee nodded "We are here, pink brat go sit on the lily pad, wait, do you even know how to walk across water" Ay paused to peer at Sakura, her eyes rounded in confusion and he sighed "Come on" he grabbed her up and walked over to the lily pad and set the girl down.

Sakura blinked in confusion "I'm suppose to meditate right" she asked finding herself lost, Ay nodded thankfully and so Sakura sat down closing her eyes and relaxing, searching within herself for something, what she didn't know until it appeared before.

Her dark side, or what was supposed to be her dark side, it was a mini her with extremely dark emerald eyes, and really dark pink hair, the colors almost bordering on black, "Poor innocent naive Sakura" it, she chortled.

That instantly made her angry "Could hardly call myself innocent or naive, not after what I went through a couple months ago" Sakura retorted to herself, or whatever it, she was, the thing cackled madly features turning feral.

"No, no, dear you're still quite innocent, you're mindset that is, do you really think Utakata would even want you, if he knew that you're a killer" the mini dark Sakura laughed cruelly and Sakura felt her eyes water.

But, "You and I both know that what happened wasn't my fault and technically it was in self defense, even if Matatabi-chan did go over board" Sakura shot back at her mini dark side, how was she supposed to overcome this half of herself.

The dark Sakura smirked "Perhaps, but you allowed her to go overboard, you're weak, innocent, so trusting, Sasori-san, he could have killed you at any moment" she said again, slowly breaking down her light side's strong will, it crumbling into tiny little pieces.

Sakura sucked in a lungful of air "You think I don't know that, Sasori-san is not a good person, but at least, at least he didn't intend to sell me to those people, like the human traffickers did" she argued growing frustrated, this wasn't working out at all.

"Poor kind Sakura, no one but yourself, even Naruto-kun will look at you in disgust once he finds out what you are" the dark half snickered, but Sakura wasn't going to back down on this one, like hell would she loose.

And she knew without a doubt "You're wrong, Naruto-kun would never, even if he did find out, because he's my first friend, Inoichi-sensei, Yamato, Genma, all of them don't care, you're the weak one with all the insecurities" Sakura stood gearing up.

"I have people that count on me now, I know they won't turn their backs on me, so no matter what you say, it won't have any affect on me" she spoke in a calm voice, gathering her dark half into her arms, the dark Sakura struggled before giving up.

"Why are you so strong, you were supposed to break" the dark Sakura cried before the image faded and Sakura found herself back on the lily pad, her emerald eyes blinked open adjusting to the light, Bee and Ay were stood on either side of her.

Ay was smirking "Not bad pink brat, looks like you've overcome you're first obstacle, tomorrow will be the hard part, beating you're bijuu" he patted the pinkette on the shoulder as Bee helped Sakura stand, she swayed dizzily.

"A fighter through and through, you'll be tough pinky in the end" Bee rapped lightly, letting Sakura lean against him as they walked back to the bungalow together, everyone else was just sitting down for dinner.

Upon seeing her, Naruto jumped up "Sakura-chan, what happened" he exclaimed in horror looking the pinkette over, taking note of the fatigue she displayed, "Why are you so tired" Naruto frowned, all she'd done is meditate right.

Sakura smiled softly to exhausted to do much more than that "Well, this meditation is a little different, you could say it kind of makes you see yourself in a whole new different light" she explained not giving away to much information.

"Oh, well come on Sakura-chan, you should eat first before going up to bed" Naruto pulled out a chair for her and the pinkette sat, he pushed her in carefully before sitting next to her, then piled a plate high for Sakura and passed it over.

Though she knew she'd never be able to eat it all, Sakura took a fork and dug right in "Thanks Naruto-kun" she thanked him wholeheartedly, before chattering lightly with the others around the table, until all food was devoured.

When Sakura felt she'd eaten enough, she stood, or tried to, but Inoichi stood behind her and she almost fell over, "We've all had a long day, especially Sakura-san, so goodnight" he put his hands on her shoulders and directed her up the stairs down the hall to the room she'd been assigned.

"Night Inoichi-sensei, Yamato-san, Genma-san" Sakura yawned tiredly bidding her teammates and sensei goodnight, then entered the room stripping down to her underclothes and without taking a shower like usual slid beneath the covers and fell asleep.

The next morning Sakura woke, ready to begin her second day of training, the first thing she did though was take a shower and change into a different outfit, that exposed her stomach, the shirt was a dark red and held Leafs insignia on it.

Much like Ino was fond of doing, Sakura wrapped bandages around her waist going down her legs, then came a pair of black shorts, and a thigh length dark red skirt, followed dark red sandals, and finally Sakura tied her headband around her neck, it was such a vulnerable place after all.

Now to struggle with her pink hair, Sakura lifted up a strand eyeing it carefully, then like she'd been doing for a while now took some bandage wraps and wound it around her hair, then twisted it up into a bun so that it was out of the way.

Once done, Sakura left the room barely remembering how to get to the dining room, only Darui was awake "Hey kid, you're awake awfully early" he noted how alert the pinkette looked and creased his forehead "Did ya have a nightmare or something" Darui asked.

Sakura blinked "Nothing like that I'm just use to waking up early, I feel completely rested and totally can't wait to train" she sat down opposite the white haired male, who laughed at her comment, but it wasn't in a mean way.

"You're different than other girls, I don't know you're not boy or clothes, or hair obsessed, like that redhead" Darui stated suddenly and it was Sakura's turn to giggle her amusement, he gave her time to get her laughter under control before raising a brow.

Her lips pulled back into a wide grin "Actually Darui-san, just because I like to train doesn't mean I'm not boy, clothes or hair obsessed, I just hide it better than anyone else" Sakura said in a most serious voice before collapsing in another fit of laughter.

Darui shook his head "Wait so who do you like then, is it one of you're teammates or how about those other two boys" he prodded, now that she wasn't terrified of being kidnapped and everything, Sakura was actually a very interesting kid.

Sakura tapped her lip "No and No, the person I like I only met him once, but I did get his name Utakata, see I want to get stronger so I can find him again, not to mention become the worlds best kunoichi" she stated easily.

"Hmm Utakata, don't think I've ever heard of him sorry kid" Darui shrugged apologetically before peering over his shoulder as Ay, Bee and Cee came down the stairs together, with the Raikage in the lead.

Ay paused and snorted "Humph should have known you'd be awake this early pink brat" he grumbled under his breath sorely needing coffee, only to realize that the pot hadn't been made yet his eye twitched and Ay growled in irritation.

"Um who usually does the cooking" Sakura jumped to her feet heading into the kitchen and coming to a stop next to the still grumbling/growling Ay, though at her question, he glanced at her and shrugged "Do you think they'd mind terribly if I made breakfast" she bit her lip.

Having predicted that the girl might say something like that "Go ahead, you are an important guest after all seeing as we are related and everything" Ay huffed, but he kept his gaze glued to the pinkette as she familiarized herself with the new kitchen before getting to work.

The smell of food cooking woke the other and soon, Kakashi, Inoichi, Yamato, Genma, Naruto, Sasuke and Karin along with Darui, Cee, Bee and Ay, were all seated around the table waiting for the delicious breakfast that was being cooked.

Sakura took a deep breath removing the waffles from the waffle iron and making new batter, before checking on the sausage patties, eggs, hash-browns, sauce, tea and everything else she was making until it was all done.

Of course when she turned to start setting everything up, she jumped in surprise "When did you all wake up" Sakura blinked her viridian eyes in confusion, wondering how she could have missed everyone coming down to sit at the table.

"We've been down here for awhile Sakura-chan" Naruto sniggered and Kakashi scuffed him over the head "Ow Kakashi-sensei's being mean to me Sakura-chan" he pouted hoping the pinkette would take his side.

A smile split her face from ear to ear "Sorry Naruto-kun, by all rights he has permission to punish you and as a genin, I'm not allowed to interfere" Sakura giggled making herself a plate first before nodding her head at the rest of the food and all the males attacked it like a bunch of hungry animals.

"Here Karin-san" she nudged the extra plate in her hands over to the redhead, then sat as far away from the girl as possible, Genma and Yamato sat on either side of her with their own plates and a glass of ginger tea.

Karin didn't even thank her, just started eating, 'Talk about having no manners, she's worse than Naruto-kun' Sakura scowled inwardly waking Matatabi, who'd been asleep until that moment and the two tailed cat emerged from the seal.

But before Matatabi could respond "You never told us you could cook Sakura-chan" Genma nudged Sakura in the side lightly interrupting her conversation with Matatabi, but she definitely heard Genma's comment.

"Yeah, where exactly did you learn all that" Yamato held his fork in between his fingers, a waffle square speared on the end of it along with a sausage patty, a bit of hash-brown and eggs, "It's delicious by the way" he ate his latest bite chewing with his mouth close.

Sakura paused in her own meal "My parents like to leave me on my own for extended periods of time, doubt they even know I'm gone from the village right now, so I had to learn how to cook for myself" she shrugged unconcerned.

And Naruto just had to pipe in "Don't deny it Sakura-chan, you learned so that when you find Utakata-san you can impress him with you're cooking skills" he sniggered, avoiding the glare the pinkette tossed his way.

Karin frowned "Who the heck is this Utakata person and why have I never met him, what's so special about him, and there's no way he's cuter that Sasuke-kun" she reached over and latched onto the Uchiha himself, and Sasuke became rigid in his seat.

"Utakata-san is a person I met at a festival about four years ago, he didn't come from the Leaf Village, and he's my goal, I want to find him, and there are cuter guys out there than Sasuke" Sakura systematically shut down each of Karin's questions.

Inoichi covered his mouth, trying to hide his amusement, "Blunt as usual huh Sakura-san" he cleared his throat talking as normally as he could and hopefully not letting any laughter out, guess he was successful as the pinkette nodded.

All chatter came to a stop as Bee stood, Sakura hurriedly ate a little more, before she deemed herself full, then stood as well, for a long moment she hesitated though and Inoichi knew what was wrong so he rose to his feet.

"Go on Sakura-san, leave the dishes to us" the blonde stared at Genma and Yamato, who nodded their heads "Besides cook should never have to wash" Inoichi grinned remembering one of Sakura's sayings from when she'd come around on the weekends.

Her emerald eyes lit up "Thank you Inoichi-sensei, Genma, Yamato" Sakura waved following Bee out the door, then her expression turned serious as he led her to the waterfall, helping her across the water and beneath it.

"Jinchuuriki training grounds" Bee gestured around him, that's essentially what the ruins were after all, "And in here is where you'll be undergoing that fight" he pulled open a door, completely forgoing rapping.

Sakura swallowed thickly "Will you be in there with me, or do I have to go in alone" she poked her head through the door and found an all white room, it was extremely bright and somewhat hurt her eyes, but she had to make sure she wouldn't be alone.

Bee shook his head "Nah, I'll be in there with you pinky, so in case the two tails decides to act up and fight back, three heads are better than one" he chuckled closing the door behind him "Now just sit there and go to the place where you always meet her" Bee instructed.

Doing as Bee said, Sakura sat down crossing her legs in classic indian style, and closed her eyes, she doubted it would take as long as he said and that she'd even need his help, but the thought of his presence was enough to fill her with confidence.

Soon enough, she was deep within her conscious, her psyche, and Matatabi wasted no time in appearing before her 'Koneko-chan is it time' she asked peering down at the tiny human girl that was her former hosts only daughter.

"Yes, I'm ready Matatabi-chan, I have to, because I'm Sakura Nii, my mothers daughter" Sakura pressed her hand over her heart choosing to use her birth mothers last name instead of the adopted one she'd been given and had used for years.

Matatabi nodded silently "Good Koneko-chan, now come here and grasp onto some of my chakra and store it in you're body, you'll gain complete control over me" she commanded gently closing her mismatched eyes and sitting down as Gyuki appeared in Sakura's psyche as well.

"Interesting, I thought you two would be fighting, but it looks like you're on better terms with each other" the ox/octopus stated in a calm voice, but Sakura didn't deter from her task of taking some of Matatabi's chakra, though it wasn't exactly easy and she did struggle some.

Her eyes opened and Matatabi let out a haughty laugh, that made Sakura giggle, "As if I would let anyone hurt koneko-chan, I promised Yugito-san that I'd protect her daughter no matter what" the two tailed cat snorted softly.

At that Gyuki nodded "Understandable" he said, then faded from Sakura's psyche, just as the little pinkette managed to pull some chakra from Matatabi "I did it Matatabi-chan, so what exactly will this do" Sakura asked staring at the long string of chakra.

"You must pull that the rest of the way out of me" Matatabi laughed softly, and Sakura blushed, smiling sheepishly, renewing her struggles, until finally that string of chakra broke away from her body and immediately stored inside the pinkette.

Just moments later, Sakura found herself staring into Bee's sunglasses, a cape of blue flames draped around her shoulders, two blue flaming tails sprouting from her back, and cat ears atop her head, "Not bad pinky yo, looks like you got it easy in there" Bee rapped suddenly.

Sakura stood slowly feeling a little tired, though she hadn't had to fight, her mental struggling hadn't been easy, "This is strange, I feel a little different" she tapped her lip in thought, before reaching back and touching the cape.

"Whoa pinky that's quite the getup yo" Bee blinked in realization of what she was now wearing and what Sakura now looked like in her tailed beast mode, he then reached out and gently touch the cat ears, the pinkette jerked back in surprise.

Her emerald eyes were wide "What was that and why did I feel that" her hands reached up and felt up the two ears "Oh my god" Sakura was freaking out and Bee didn't know what to do, so he stood there watching her panic.

Until "Pinky calm down yo, what did you expect when you gained control over you're beast" Bee cut into Sakura's meltdown hoping to get her focus back on him, the pinkette paused and took a deep breath trying to calm down.

"I don't know, but certainly not this, anyone's gonna know what I am, whenever I use this form" Sakura frowned, that meant unless she was outside the village, she'd never get to practice or fight like this and it sucked.

Bee nodded "Yes, while that is true, remember that you'll have a week in the Cloud Village, every few months to train and practice however you wish and no one there will judge you for it" he stated in a very non-rapping way.

Sakura sighed lightly "Okay, well now that I'm like this how do I get out of this" she gestured to the tails, ears and cape, and Bee chuckled loudly at her misfortune, "Wait I thought you were supposed to help me" Sakura's jaw dropped.

He simply raised a brow "Ask you're tailed beast pinky" Bee sat down while Gyuki rolled his eyes 'What pinky will find it's easier if I don't help' he shrugged inwardly, keeping his eyes glued to the pinkette who looked deep in thought.

'Don't freak out Koneko-chan' Matatabi's voice rang through her mind, Sakura's body relaxed at the command 'Good girl, now take a deep breath' she soothed helping her host and in her own head cursing out Bee.

Since she didn't really have much of a choice, Sakura took a deep breath 'What next Matatabi-chan' she asked as her muscles relaxed further loosing the built up tension, she certainly didn't want to be stuck this way after all.

Matatabi smiled inwardly at that hearing every little stray thought Sakura had, 'Now Koneko-chan, reign in you're chakra and you'll go back to normal' she ordered gently, helping the pinkette a lot as Sakura closed her eyes to concentrate.

Seconds later, her features returned to normal as the ears, tails and cape receded, her emerald eyes popped open and Sakura cheered softly "I did it Bee-san, did you see, that was so awesome" she spun in a little circle, before realizing she shouldn't have done that.

Her stomach churned, and Bee frowned as her skin paled "Pinky you alright, you don't look so good yo" he walked towards the girl just before she slapped a hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, only then did he realize what had happened.

"Ah exerted yourself to much huh pinky, that's alright we can take a break, it's probably lunch time, so lets go eat yo" Bee rapped as Sakura's stomach finally settled down enough for her to follow him out of the room they were in and back to the bungalow.

Ay looked surprised to see them "Pinky excelled, now all that's left is teaching her how to use her new abilities yo" Bee rapped confusingly, and Ay nodded at his brother, smirking inwardly, he had known the pinkette would exceed his expectations at this training, her mother had after all.

Upon seeing the food Sakura sat down between Yamato and Naruto, one of the only open seats left "Thought we'd go all day without seeing you Sakura-chan" the blonde pouted passing over the bowl of green beans, after that mornings breakfast, nothing could top Sakura's food.

Her skin flushed, "Well I do need to eat sometime Naruto-kun" she grinned putting some of the green beans on her plate, before getting some mashed potatoes, gravy and a chicken fried steak, making her plate her preferred way before digging in.

"Sakura-san is right Naruto, people do need to replenish their energy and rest, by the way how is the meditation going" Yamato peered at the pinkette curiously, they'd all decided to call it that so no one else was the wiser of what was going on.

Sakura's emerald eyes lit up "Going great, the meditation is doing wonders for me, though if not a little strange in it's methods" she stuck her tongue out at Bee, drawing Ay's gaze onto herself, Sakura smiled sheepishly lowering her eyes to the table.

Inoichi chuckled quietly to himself, this was turning out to be quite memorable for him, to think it all started because Sakura happened to be a young girl with exotic pink hair, and a jinchuuriki, to the bijuu who had come from the Hidden Cloud Village and related to the Raikage.

"You planning on going straight back to meditating" Genma jumped into the conversation, Sakura was his teammate after all, it was only right of him to worry, Sakura glanced up then to Bee who shrugged signaling that she could do whatever for awhile.

How she even understood that, she would never know "I don't think so, looks like Bee-san needs a break from me" Sakura snickered impishly, "Why, did you want to get in some training, or are we allowed to explore Raikage-sama" she turned to Ay.

Ay narrowed his eyes "As long as you're careful and keep to the paths, you may explore" he finally nodded, she was family, and a young girl, he had to remember to be gentle or risk possibly scaring the pinkette off, for good.

She nodded eagerly "Of course Raikage-sama" Sakura said in a serious voice before turning to Genma, who shrugged in acceptance, Yamato huffed "You're welcome to come along to Yamato-san" she included the second brunette on her teammate into the afternoon activity.

Yamato smiled to himself, and Genma rolled his eyes knowingly, so they'd gotten into their roles of being twelve year old's again a little to well, being short and not having yet hit puberty in their de-aged bodies will do that, sue them.

"Hey, can I come to Sakura-chan" Naruto suddenly burst out a pout on his lips, while Karin seethed inwardly with jealousy, and Sasuke scoffed in disgust, Sakura turned towards the second blonde at the table before nodding "Awesome" he exclaimed.

Sakura giggled softly, and finished off the rest of her lunch, ready to go out and explore the vast jungle/forest of Turtle Island, Genma, Yamato and Naruto followed her out of the bungalow and they all went to the right ready to begin their adventure together.


	7. Finding Her Roots Part 2 (End)

Four days later found Sakura deep in training, today's focus was creating her patented blue flame and making it three times more destructive "Just remember concentrate pinky yo say ho" Bee instructed, as he switched up their training for the fourth time in a row.

Each day was different and she took a deep breath 'Relax Koneko-chan it's easy, feel the power rushing through your veins' Matatabi soothed her host, mismatched eyes looking through the girls and lending her strength.

With sweat beading on her brow, as this was her eighth attempt at the jutsu, she exhaled slowly mismatched eyes, only when she's in her tailed beast state, narrowed in determination "Fire Style: Mouse Hairball" Sakura called spewing her patented blue flame.

It took on the shape of a mouse before splitting into several smaller creating a wave just before they crashed into the targets set up across from her destroying them "You did it Pinky wee" the eight tails Jinchuuriki praised grabbing the young girl up and swinging her around.

Something she was quickly coming to accept and maybe even like 'Well done Koneko-chan, now we can go explore with those boys on your team' the two tailed cat let out a massive purr that emanated all the way to her host's core.

Sakura instantly relaxed and went limp "Matatabi-chan did that thing again" the pinkette explained fighting off the sudden wave of sleepiness that hit her, and relented with her tailed beast mode, the blue flame tails and cape receded and the ears atop her head vanished without a trace.

That was possibly the oddest thing about her appearance while practicing in her tailed beast mode, the ears, and they felt fuzzy, Bee liked to rub them on purpose and it always had her freaking out "Good job, now you can go yo say ho" Bee interrupted her internal thought process.

Matatabi didn't speak as she'd already faded into the recesses of her host's psyche to nap for awhile "Right maybe today's the day I'll convince Raikage-sama to join me on a walk" Sakura grinned from ear to ear.

Having made it her personal goal while they were out here to spend a little one on one time with her biological distant cousin, even if he was the Raikage, the rest of them were out here doing nothing and Ay didn't have any work to complete.

Bee chuckled but didn't say anything as they left the tailed beast ruins and waterfall of truth behind "If you really want him to spend time with you pinky, ask him to teach you the water walking technique" the dark skinned male finally suggested.

The girl whirled emerald eyes bright and full of excitement mind whirring at all the possible things the Raikage could teach her beyond the water walking technique "But first I'll have to ask Inoichi-sensei" she admitted.

Not wanting to make her very capable sensei feel as if he wasn't doing a good enough, this got her loose hair ruffled gently as they reached the bungalow the lot of them were staying in "How's that meditation training for you" Cee looked up from his spot on the couch.

"Going great Cee-san, I'm learning a lot about inner strength and relying on it, anyway I have something I want to ask my sensei" Sakura waved, then bounded off to Cee's and Darui's amusement it wasn't more than two hallways later that she encountered her sensei.

Inoichi turned sensing her presence "Yes Sakura-chan" Inoichi asked feeling the intense stare, his blue-green irises met her emerald wondering what she wanted, he hoped it wasn't something impossible, not that she asked for much from him.

Sakura took a deep breath "Would you be okay with it if I asked Raikage-sama to teach me how to water walk, I wanted to ask you first because I don't want you to feel as if you aren't a good sensei, you are an awesome sensei, it's just I want to spend time with Raikage-sama" she mumbled.

"He's family Sakura-chan so of course I'm okay with it" the blonde smiled kindly and nudged her down the hall to the Raikage's room so she could make her request, above all the girl was the kindest, most sweetest, temperamental person he'd ever met.

Relieved that it had been easy to get her sensei to agree, she hurried the rest of the way to the Raikage's room and knocked politely on the door "What do you want brat, hopefully not coming to ask me on another walk" the door swung open and Ay was staring down at her in exasperation.

She shook her head "Nope I came to ask if you would teach me the water walking technique Raikage-sama" Sakura put on her best hopeful expression and spoke in the politest, most respectful tone she could manage laying it on thick.

The Raikage grunted in response "Fine come on brat" Ay relented less than two minutes later, damn that Bee for giving the girl an advantage over him, Sakura smiled, but kept her excitement tamed down as she pumped her arm lightly in victory before settling down.

With that he led her down the hall to the exit "Lucky Kid getting to learn something under Raikage-sama" Darui whistled once the door was shut behind the duo and were out of hearing range, Cee shook his head in amusement.

Once outside Ay took her back to the waterfall of truth "What first Raikage-sama" the pinkette peered over the edge into the pond, it wasn't very deep sure, but she had no desire to get wet any time soon.

"First brat focus chakra into your feet, then step out onto the water" the Raikage snorted, not instructing her fully, not yet at least, until she got to frustrated being unable to perfect the technique, and looked t o him for more directions.

She crinkled her nose up in concentration until a blue glow surrounded her feet, Inoichi had already taught her the tree climbing exercise so how much different could it be, then stepped out onto the water with one foot at first, then brought her other out.

And promptly fell with a loud splash with a long suffering sigh she dragged herself back onto dry land to try it again, this time she added more chakra to her feet thinking that was the problem, knowing better than to ask so soon into the mini lesson.

For all of three seconds she stood on the water before falling into the pond again, she huffed and rung out her hair, which was now thoroughly soaked as were her clothes and tried again, only to be met with the same results as the first two times.

'What are you doing Koneko-chan' Matatabi couldn't ignore the frustration welling up in her host any long and appeared in the girls psyche, this earned her a sigh upon looking through the girls eyes saw her host falling into the pond.

It must have been her ninth or tenth time 'That, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, after I thought it was because I wasn't using enough chakra' the girl huffed inwardly, not angry at Matatabi, but at herself.

Before turning to the Raikage "Alright Raikage-sama what am I doing wrong" Sakura finally asked thinking she'd spent enough time suffering through falling in the pond, he lifted a white brow, then stepped out onto the water himself.

"Keep your chakra consistent, account for every ripple, wave or fish that is in the water, only then will you be able to successfully perform this technique" Ay instructed finally and Sakura was ever so grateful as she focused chakra into her feet.

Then stepped out, adding more chakra to her feet as she walked and got use to the technique "Yay I did it about time to, I was getting tired of ACK" the pinkette cheered losing concentration and once again fell in the pond.

Ay chuckled "Don't worry Pink brat you'll get it eventually to the point where you won't even have to think about being consistent with your chakra, let's go back" the Raikage ordered, they'd spent thirty minutes out there and he hoped she was content.

"You got it Raikage-sama should be about supper time to" Sakura dragged herself out of the pond for what seemed to her the millionth time and eager to get out of her wet clothes followed after the huge man back to the bungalow.

Everyone paused what they were doing when the duo entered the bungalow and disappeared down the hall "Did you know that Sakura-chan was out there" Genma swung his head around to eye his impromptu sensei with narrowed eyes.

Inoichi nodded seriously "What was she doing anyway with Raikage-sama" Yamato frowned, unable to help but be concerned for his teammate, he might have had his reservations about being de-aged and placed on a genin team, but he'd warmed up to it after some time.

"She asked him to teach her how to do the water walking technique, for some family bonding time" Inoichi explained telling the two males exactly what Sakura had told him, they both shared a small smile, glad that she wasn't letting the fact that Ay was the Raikage get in her way.

That girl deserved to spend time with true family and not her adopted parents who continuously left their adopted daughter alone to fend for herself, they didn't even know she'd been kidnapped by Human Traffickers and were the most oblivious adults any of them had met.

Nine minutes later Sakura returned dressed in a thick red yukata and an orange sash tied around her waist, feeling a little cold and definitely not wanting to get sick "Are you feeling alright Sakura-chan" Naruto piped in as he stole a seat next to his friend.

To Genma's chagrin since Yamato was already seated next to the girl, Genma huffed before choosing to sit next to Inoichi, to everyone's amusement "I'm fine Naruto, just felt a little cold, only just now got back from learning the water walking technique" her emerald eyes were bright.

As she spoke on her accomplishment "Tch I bet it took you like twenty tries before you could successfully do that simple technique, myself however perfected it on the first try" Karin boasted trying to impress Sasuke and missing the look her sensei shot her.

"Oh really Karin-chan, so that means you've also perfected the tree climbing exercise which is essential to learning the water walking technique, would you care to demonstrate before supper" Kakashi closed his book with a snap.

Karin jolted in response not expecting to have been put on the spot so suddenly "That's what I thought, don't boast about things you haven't even been taught" the silver haired nin scolded harshly before directing an apologetic look at the girl who'd been insulted.

"No worries Kakashi-sensei" Sakura smiled proving that what had been said wasn't getting to her in the least, Karin was just annoying, easily dealt with by ignoring the red head, who was now glaring at her plate as it was set before her.

Thinking the conversation over Sakura went to dig into her dinner "Well how many times did it take you before you got the technique down" Sasuke interrupted wanting to know as he defended his teammate just a little.

"Eleven that's because I first tried to figure the technique out for myself without any help from Raikage-sama, the eleventh try however was when I got it, so if we're being technical only ten tries" the pinkette said bluntly.

Darui and Cee chuckled "Should have known that you'd get it down quickly, your part of Raikage-sama's family so your bound to be a prodigy" the onyx eyed blonde praised, having easily gotten attached to the girl.

It had been easy because once they'd learned she was part of the Raikage's family, distant or otherwise that's all he'd needed to accept her presence "And you'll only continue to improve" the younger white haired dark skinned male nodded.

She blushed at all the praise and thanked them shyly "Enough let's eat" the Raikage announced as the last plate was sat down and the lot of them dug into their supper, though as they'd learned, the pink haired kunoichi had a talent in the kitchen.

And so none of their meals except for breakfast was really delicious, soon enough they all finished up and the maid that cooked lunch and dinner came and took the dishes away so that the lot of them could go and get some rest.

Like every morning since they'd been there Sakura woke up first and padded down the stairs to the kitchen and got started on an elaborate breakfast for everyone to fuel them for the morning, then after she was done eating, headed off with Bee.

Once again he switched their training session up "Pinky it's time to see how sharp those nails of yours are, Yugito could snap a sword in half, let's see you do the same" Bee pulled out a sword, not one of his specially made and attacked.

The girl had a split second to delve into herself and draw upon Matatabi's chakra that was stored with in her entering tailed beast mode, her finger and toe nails sharpened and grew in length and brought her arms up to block the sword that was coming right at her.

Sword and nails locked in a power struggle "What do you think Bee-san, am I faster than before" Sakura smiled proud of herself for her quick reflexes, Bee nodded and bared down on her with even more strength.

And she shoved right back as hard as she could, trying to angle her nails in just the right position 'Koneko-chan, trying channeling a little chakra in them' Matatabi emerged suddenly to give her host a little help.

Mismatched green and yellow eyes narrowed in determination and doing as instructed, Sakura gathered chakra in her long, sharp deadly nails, the results were instantaneous as the sword Bee was using snapped in half and he leaped back to avoid getting gutted accidentally.

Sakura fell forward in response "Now that you've got that, let's keep practicing, yo say ho wee" the eight tails Jinchuuriki rapped producing another useless sword from the pile at his side and launched himself forward.

With only a couple seconds to right herself, Sakura leaped back and slashed out with her chakra enhanced nails, the two circled around each other, before leaping at each other again, swords and nails clashed and another sword was killed.

This training continued well up to lunch, by that point she was running low on chakra and her body was beginning to get sore, so the Raikage's brother ended the session "Good job Pinky, wee" Bee praised as they left the tailed beast training grounds behind.

"Yeah it's amazing what I can do now" Sakura grinned from ear to ear, as they headed back to the bungalow, for the rest of the day she spent that time with her teammates and Naruto, exploring the forests and seeing the sights.

Until all three weeks had passed and Ay deemed her training complete and then it was time to go back to the Leaf Village, she was going to miss turtle island, but was definitely looking forward to her week visit the next month as it took them a week to get home to their village.


	8. Protect the Bridge Builder

It wasn't more than a week later that they'd been home before Team's Seven and Thirteen along with their two respective sensei's were called into the Hokage's Office for another mission "As the results from the escort to Cloud were impressive, I'm giving you six another mission together" Hiruzen explained.

There was nothing wrong with that "What kind of mission Hokage-sama" Inoichi was the first one to ask, glancing to his genin and hoping inwardly to kami that nothing went wrong on their mission as they'd found out the only girl on the team was a trouble magnet.

And everywhere she went she unknowingly attracted trouble "C Ranked Escort Mission to the Land of Waves, our Client is Tazuna the Bridge Builder, you eight are to escort him home to his village and protect him as he completes the bridge" the Third announced.

Just as a side door opened to reveal their so called client who was old and apparently a drunkard, it wasn't more than five minutes after the initial meeting that one of the genin on Team Seven wanted to pummel the guy for insulting him and calling him short.

Predictable "We understand Hokage-sama, you three pack for a couple of weeks" Kakashi turned to his genin and ushered them from the office despite their reluctant groans, the only girls being the loudest because she hated traveling and it had only been week since they'd gotten back.

"We'll meet you at the gates Inoichi-sensei" Genma called chewing on his senbon and exited the office, holding the door open for his sole female teammate as she followed after him, but forgot to wait for his other teammate and earned a scowl that was missed.

The other brunette on the team let out a long suffering sigh "Please for our sake I hope nothing goes wrong" Yamato pleaded as he hurried down the streets to his apartment, otherwise it was going to be a very trying mission.

Inoichi shook his head in mild amusement heading off to his own home to tell his wife that he'd be gone on a two week mission before packing a bag full of what he and his team might possibly need if his genin ran out of supplies to soon.

Plus he doubted Kakashi would bring extra for his genin, with that he bid Aiko farewell "Good luck dear and come home safe" Aiko kissed him chastely pulling away with a tender smile as she watched her husband go off on another mission with his genin team.

And found he was one of the first few to arrive, Yamato and Genma were already there, but Kakashi, Tazuna and the four of the genin were still missing, "Am I late" Naruto charged into view mere moments later carrying a pack on his shoulders that was stuffed full.

No doubt he wouldn't need half of what he'd packed but the more the merrier, the Uchiha on Team Seven skidded to a halt a couple seconds later "Damn I was hoping to beat the Dope" Sasuke scowled prompting around of insults between the two boys.

Third to arrive was the only red head "Yes no annoying pink haired weirdo to steal Sasuke-kun" Karin immediately latched onto Sasuke and he shook her off with a scowl, then took several steps away from his only female teammate, hating it when the girl touched him.

Only Kakashi, their client and a genin were all they were waiting on, clear across the village, the pink haired kunoichi entered her house only to freeze as she saw that her adopted parents were home for the first time in ages.

"Where the hell have you been all morning, this house is a wreck young lady" Mebuki whirled on her daughter, anger in her green eyes, the young girl frowned and looked around, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the house.

Her adoptive father winced "What your Mother means Sakura is the laundry and your room, which you better start cleaning and washing, right now, or you'll be grounded" Kizashi said in a warning tone missing the annoyance on his daughters face.

With a resolute expression "Hokage-sama summoned me along with my team and Team Seven, I can't we have a mission and I'm only here to pack" the pinkette stated knowing that she was wasting time and no doubt the others were already waiting.

What she wasn't expecting was for her adoptive mother to lunge and try to slap her clean across the face, if it weren't for her developing reflexes she would have been to "Don't you ever back talk us again, now go to your room, your team will just have to complete the mission without you" the blonde ordered.

Sakura was tempted to roll her eyes "And don't you even dare try to sneak out your window, if you do, I'll be waiting and you'll be grounded for months" the dark pink haired male said, though she fully intended on ignoring that.

For she knew for a fact her window was open and with a simple cloaking genjutsu she'd be gone without her adoptive father ever realizing it, so without another word walked calmly up the stairs to her room and began packing.

Then peered out the window and there he was stood below in the street, with a roll of her eyes a genjutsu that cloaked her was used and she slipped out the window and leaped clear over her father's head and tore off down the streets.

Until the gates came into view only then did she remove the jutsu, having sensed her, no one was really surprised "What took you so long brat" Tazuna, who'd arrived with Kakashi ten minutes before hand and they'd all been waiting for her.

After situation her pack properly she let out a long suffering sigh "My parents were home, they ordered me to do their laundry and clean my room and when I told them I had a mission threatened to ground me and tried to keep me from leaving" Sakura announced.

Looking extremely angry, but was tamping down on her temper pretty well considering, nothing more was said as the nine of them signed out and set off down the path in the direction of the Land of Waves, Tazuna's home village.

"No offense but do your parents not realize that you're a shinobi now and regular rules no longer apply to you or are they just plain stupid" the raven haired male in the group spoke up wanting to know what was wrong with the girls parents.

Sakura shot him a look "Hate to agree but Uchiha's right Sakura-chan your parents aren't exactly the most loving and their always leaving you on your own so don't even know half of the stuff you've been through" the brunette with brown eyes chimed in.

While Sasuke looked extremely disturbed at the news "And not only that probably don't even know you've met some of your birth family" the brunette with onyx eyes walking on her other side spoke and a smile curved her lips upwards.

"Do you still have that necklace Raikage-sama gave to you Sakura-chan" the older blonde with blue-green eyes inquired and Sakura tugged the pendant out from beneath her shirt collar, signifying her status as family to the Raikage.

Off to the side Karin harrumphed in displease, jealous that the pink haired girl got all the luck "Kakashi-sensei how long is this going to take us" the red head complained in the next moment already tired of walking.

Kakashi was tempted to scuff her over the back of the head "Several more hours Karin, now pick up the pace and stop dragging your feet" the silver haired nin ordered, he was seriously going to have to up that girls training otherwise she'd never make it in the world.

Naruto eyed his teammates then wandered over to his best friend "Ne, ne Sakura-chan what were you always doing when you went off with that big guy on that really cool island" the young blonde of the group questioned.

She gave him an indulgent smile "Training Naruto, Raikage-sama taught me the water walking exercise and we found out that I have the same chakra nature as him, lightning and water based natures and fire, but not the regular kind of fire" the pinkette chattered.

Drawing the boy into a detailed explanation of everything she and the Raikage had done during the various times they'd left the bungalow during her meditation training 'Koneko-chan two chakra signatures ahead' Matatabi interrupted partway through.

The girl jolted and her eyes shot forward becoming quiet "At least nothing's happened yet" the bridge builder commented, missing the sudden eerie silence coming from the group of shinobi as they all noticed one of the genin becoming tenser by the second.

First to her side was her sensei "What is it Sakura-chan do you sense something" Inoichi lowered his voice as the group of nine came to a slow stop, still several meters away from where Matatabi had sensed the two chakra signatures.

"Mhm two ahead, their chakra is dark like rogues, their laying in wait for us" Sakura nodded eyes becoming cat like, letting the man know Matatabi was just beneath the surface ready to defend her host at a moments notice.

Inoichi straightened "Best thing we can do is let them ambush us and take care of them, keep together you six and protect Tazuna is that understood" Kakashi snapped his book shut, he'd already felt the chakra, but for one of the genin to have as well was a little bit of a shocker.

He would have kept silent and let the ambush play out cause he felt something off with this entire mission like Inoichi did but the genin were none the wiser, at his order the six genin surrounded Tazuna, two in front, two on the side and two in the back.

With the two Jonin in the lead the group of nine continued their trek until they passed by a puddle where the two chakra signatures were emanating from but they passed it by, it wasn't more than ten feet later that chaos erupted through the group.

The only red head in the group let out an ear piercing scream as her sensei was cut in half in several pieces as the two rogues charged, one went straight for Tazuna and experienced eyes picked up on that.

Karin was still screaming like an idiot when Sasuke jumped in front of her, who was stood in front of their client, while the other went after Naruto, upon seeing this Sakura didn't hesitate in jumping in front of her friend and release an on the spot punch.

"S..Sakura-chan" Naruto whimpered huddling into her back as the two males on his best friend's team surrounded them, Kakashi chose that minute to return and take out their two attackers and everyone thanked the kami when the red haired girl stopped screaming like a bloody banshee.

Like seriously, Sakura turned 'Poison Koneko-chan, Kurama will burn it out of his system and heal the boy if he wants to survive now let me take over for a minute to speak with those two' the feline tailed beast rumbled gesturing to the two jonin.

Who were tying up the rogues, "You'll be alright Naruto, just a little scratch" Genma knew instantly that his teammate was no longer in control of her body when her eyes became mismatched and slit like a cats and wandered in the direction of the two jonin's.

Naruto sniffled "Here let me help you wrap that" Yamato offered knowing it was going to hurt for a bit until the fox sealed inside the boy finished healing it up, the boy thanked him quietly and held perfectly still for Yamato.

In the mean while Sakura with the two tails in control reached the two Jonin and both of them realized that it wasn't the girl they'd come to know " **Those two were after the bridge builder, something is off and he's not telling the whole truth"** Matatabi growled under her breath.

Kakashi nodded and Inoichi who'd somewhat suspected nodded finished up with the rogues before heading for their client, only then did Matatabi give control back to Sakura, who was holding up surprisingly well with all that had happened that morning.

"Sasuke-kun you were so cool how you jumped in front of me like that" Karin squealed in the next moment and emerald eyes rolled upwards in annoyance, while the Uchiha tried to get away from his female teammate.

By snapping at her "I was only protecting our client you're just an annoyance and completely useless why don't you start training instead of letting others protect you" Sasuke snapped irritated with the way she kept clinging to him.

Like usual the insults went clear over the girls head and Sakura scoffed under her breath, she was almost certain that Karin would be the first one to die on a mission and with how the one they were on was turning out so far it would be soon.

Eventually Kakashi and Inoichi managed to coerce the truth out of their client and suddenly their mission went from a C Rank to an A Ranked, ten times more dangerous, but the old man had grown on them a little.

"So you'll still protect me" Tazuna asked amazed at the loyalty shinobi possessed even if the mission was extremely dangerous and they could possibly die, they were still willing to see the mission through to the end, they all nodded and once again they started down the path.


	9. Meeting the Demon Part 1

After traveling for several more hours and getting on a boat, they were nearing the Bridge Builder's Village, they were extremely close, but would happen was more trouble as a giant butcher knife like sword went sailing over their heads.

Of course the Uzumaki girl let out an ear piercing scream breaking everyone's ear drums "Shut up Karin" Sakura finally had enough of the shrieking and spoke harshly to the girl, who blinked at her dumbly but to everyone else's relief did stop screaming like a banshee for the second time that day.

Sakura sighed softly "S..Sakura-chan your scary" Naruto whimpered huddled against his friend's side where she'd dragged him down with her to the ground, the sword that had been thrown at them was embedded in a tree and she knew things were going to go from bad to worse.

The statement earned a wry smile "Be quiet Dope" Sasuke snorted feeling the demonic chakra in the air and baring down on them harshly, it felt like he was being choked by invisible hands and not even his normal antics were helping.

"We're going to die aren't we" Karin mumbled under her breath brokenly as an insane sounding laugh filled the air and then suddenly there was someone stood on the hilt of the sword embedded in the tree in front of them.

Knowing better than to try and reprimand the girl at the moment Team Seven and Thirteen's sensei's faced their new assailant "If it isn't Zabuza Momochi the proclaimed demon of the Hidden Mist Village" Kakashi announced speaking the rogues name.

"If your after Tazuna-san I'm afraid we can't let you have him" Inoichi was stood in front of his genin, looking around warily in case there were others, it was better to check just to be sure, but he couldn't sense anyone else.

However that didn't mean that no one else couldn't sense any others 'Koneko-chan, there's one hiding, he's suppressing his chakra, waiting for his chance to strike' Matatabi appeared in her hosts psyche to tell her what she knew.

And after spreading out her senses, Sakura was just barely able to feel the hidden chakra, her actions didn't go unnoticed _"Sakura-chan what is it, did Two Tails tell you something"_ Genma lowered his voice to a whisper.

The girl nodded and gestured subtly with her head in the direction behind them, Genma quickly caught on and turned to the remaining brunette _"Got it I'll be on the alert and have my wood style ready at a moments notice"_ Yamato nodded returning his focus on their assailant.

"My, my Kakashi Hatake and Inoichi Yamanaka with a bunch of genin brats, very interesting to bad guess I'll just have to take the bridge builder by force" Zabuza chose that moment to speak in a dark rumbling voice.

Sending shudders down the genin's back, while the Bridge Builder freaked out "I knew it this was a bad idea" Tazuna trembled and Sakura was tempted to whack him or knock him out so he couldn't cause them trouble.

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder "Form a protection formation around Tazuna, Naruto, Sasuke, Karin" the silver haired nin ordered as the genin all rose to their feet, the genin of Team Seven quickly did as they were told and made a formation around the bridge builder.

"I don't see why we're even bothering, we're all just gonna die anyway" the red head was still muttering under her breath in a broken tone, obviously not cut out for the life of a shinobi if this was how she was gonna act at the first sign of trouble.

Naruto scowled at his cousin "Be quiet Karin you don't know if Kakashi-sensei and Inoichi-sensei will be able to beat this freak with no eyebrows or not" the blonde did the honors of scolding the girl to his sensei's surprise.

"Your no better Dope, don't you know that it's not wise to insult your enemy" the raven haired preteen scoffed feeling a chill crawl down his spine as the chakra in the air became heavier and literally stole his breath making it harder to breathe.

Genma and Yamato shook their heads, while Sakura didn't so much as glance in the other team's direction "What would you like us to do Inoichi-sensei" the brunette with onyx eyes questioned scanning his surroundings as subtly as he could manage.

Inoichi peered over his shoulder at the de-aged former anbu, now genin "Keep an eye out for back up and Sakura try not to get to worked up over their antics" the older blonde smiled easily, obviously not concerned.

Making the genin relax just a little bit "Got it Inoichi-sensei, come on Yamato" the brunette with brown eyes and chewing on a senbon needle dragged his teammate forward and they disappeared from sight into the treeline.

Zabuza peered suspiciously after them, before directing his dark brown irises on the girl that had been left behind, an idea came to mind and before they could react he was gone from the hilt of his sword and stood behind the girl who'd been called Sakura.

"Left without protection, it's only wise that I take out the weakest member of your squad first" the raven haired male smirked and swung his sword straight through the girl, the other genin jolted as the two Jonin Sensei's turned.

They didn't have to worry "Phew that was a close one I'm glad the substitution jutsu exits" the pinkette's voice filled their ears moments later and all eyes turned to see Sakura sitting on a tree branch, in her former place was a cut up log.

Only Inoichi and Kakashi could guess that the tailed beast that was sealed inside the young girl had warned her ahead of time the danger so that Sakura could get out of the way in the nick of time, it was a relief to even Tazuna.

"You insane girl you couldn't have warned us" the Bridge Builder scowled at the twelve year old, who was smiling as easily as her sensei was, no matter how much fight Zabuza put up, they would come out the victors she was sure of it.

Though at the scolding Sakura shrugged lightly in response, keeping her emerald eyes on the rogue ninja who was after their client, he looked pretty pissed that she'd got away if the glint of anger in his eyes were any indication.

Moments later the fight really began, Inoichi letting Kakashi do most of the fighting for the time being until a thick mist disrupted their vision making visibility difficult, Sakura was still sat in the tree when Zabuza's voice filled the air, followed by a familiar scream.

When the mist cleared Zabuza had broken through the formation Team Seven had made around their client "Pity and here I thought with the airs you put on that this would be more of challenge" Zabuza chuckled darkly.

Preparing to hack right through their client "PLEASE KAMI SAVE ME" Tazuna screamed to the gods to be saved, clenching his eyes shut when all he saw was that gargantuan sword coming straight at him and he swore he was dead in the next moment.

Until "Not this time your finished" Kakashi, who'd disappeared from sight was stood behind Zabuza, kunai to the rogue's jugular, his genin let out matching sighs of relief and even began smiling outwardly.

"Alright Kakashi-sensei got it" Naruto cheered thinking the fight was over, only to freak out as it turned out the Zabuza before them was a water clone and he dispelled in a splash of water, and reappeared behind his sensei.

Who also turned into a puddle of water, the two males engaged in a short water clone style fight before Kakashi was kicked into the lake "KAKASHI-SENSEI NOOOOOOOOO" Karin screamed panicking once more.

No one was even paying her any attention "Be quiet Karin, screaming won't help us out of the situation we're in now" Sasuke scowled as their sensei was caught so the only adult they could rely on now was Team Thirteen's sensei to get them out of the mess they were in.

Zabuza realized this as well and created a clone "We couldn't find anything whoa what happened here" Genma and the other brunette returned after their thorough search of the forest for the chakra that their female teammate could sense.

"How on earth did this happen, we were only gone twenty minutes tops" Yamato groaned coming to a stop beside his sensei, eyes searching for his female teammate and found her sitting comfortably on a tree branch, like the two tailed cat inside of her, the girl loved heights.

Though at her teammates reappearance leaped down to the ground and landed gracefully on her feet without to much effort 'Koneko-chan there's only one way to get out of this mess' Matatabi warned from her psyche and her host slumped her shoulders.

Before walking forward to stand at her sensei's side looking up at him with resigned emerald eyes, cerulean orbs took on a knowing gleam "Very well, Sakura-san, just be careful" Inoichi relented to the request.

With a deep breath the girl charged forward, the water clone was waiting for her, but what he didn't expect was the cat-like reflexes or the punch that sent him careening backwards, the original was shocked but the girl kept on coming.

Until she hit water and not even that stopped her as she sped through a set of hand signs "Suiton: Rising Water Cutter" Sakura called kicking a powerful wave of water at the space between Zabuza and the sphere of water that held Kakashi prisoner.

Making Zabuza leap to the side to avoid being hit by the jutsu and release Kakashi, though Zabuza regained his footing first and charged after Sakura, just as he reached her with amazing reflexes that didn't belong to a child unless specifically trained the girl back-flipped out of the way.

Sakura landed on her feet on solid land as Kakashi picked up where he'd left off "Good work Sakura-chan" the silver haired nin turned a smile on the young girl, who'd helped set him free of the water prison he'd been held captive in.

"Nah it was nothing Kakashi-sensei my practice in Cloud paid off big time" the pinkette shrugged as if what she'd done was no big deal, but it was especially to the rogue they'd been facing off against for the last couple of hours.

Both males were breathing heavily by this point as they ran low on chakra "OH COME ON YOU FOREHEADED FREAK WHY THE HELL WOULD THE RAIKAGE GIVE YOU SPECIAL TRAINING" the red head finally snapped out of her stupor and started screaming insults yet again.

The girl in question turned a piercing emerald glare on the red head, and her eyes became scarily slit like a cats and within their depths was anger and the promise of retribution 'Don't let that annoyance get you worked up Koneko-chan' the two tailed feline warned.

Her shoulders slumped and Sakura hurried to her sensei's side as he gestured for her to "You did well Sakura" the older blonde with cerulean irises praised gently earning a humble smile from his sole female student.

"Totally awesome Sakura-chan, which is more than I can say for Karin-san" the brunette with brown eyes clapped his female teammate on the back with a smirk, keeping one eye on the still battling Jonin, though one was a rogue.

By his side their remaining teammate rolled his eyes "What Genma means is that you were great" the brunette with onyx eyes finally relented and praised his female teammates as well, though in more moderation than the other one had.

Off to the side "Not bad I supposed" the raven haired twelve year old grudgingly nodded, trembling horribly, they couldn't all be oblivious to the oppressive chakra in the air after all and it was slowly getting to him.

"What Teme means Sakura-chan is that were wicked BELIEVE IT" the younger blonde punched the air with a cheer praising his best friend, who'd helped him through their academy days and was glad she was on the mission with them.

Even Tazuna nodded in agreement "Go..Good work" the bridge builder flashed the young girl a thumbs up and a small smile before focusing his attention on Kakashi and Zabuza who were still fighting, though they were all sure the silver haired nin would win.

"Brats not bad" the raven haired male commented, dark brown eyes shifting briefly in the pink haired girls direction, it didn't matter though, even if this round didn't turn out, he would have another chance to take the bridge builder out.

It took three hours sure but after a large jutsu the rogue was down for the count, and that's when the hidden chakra came out of hiding, posing as a hunter nin, they all listened to the explanation before the boy and Zabuza were gone.

Only then did Kakashi lose consciousness creating pandemonium amongst his genin, when next he woke, Sakura was leaned over him hands glowing a light green "Chakra Exhaustion and you overused the sharingan in your eye" Sakura explained quietly when she saw him awake.

He wasn't allowed to sit up though "That's what I get for facing off against Zabuza by myself, where are the others, is Tazuna-san alright" Kakashi inquired carefully, realizing that the girl was the only one in the room.

"Inoichi-sensei, Genma and Yamato went with Tazuna-san to the bridge to protect him while he works, Sasuke and Naruto are out scouting the village and Karin is watching over Tsunami-san, Tazuna-san's granddaughter" the pinkette rattled off.

Kakashi let out a sigh of relief "Zabuza's not dead and that hunter nin wasn't really a hunter nin" the silver haired nin admitted, now that his mind was clear and not bogged down from exhaustion, he could see the truth that he'd missed earlier.

The pink haired Jinchuuriki nodded "We know Kakashi-sensei, but there's no way Momochi-san will be able to attack us for at least a week right because of chakra exhaustion and his nervous system is shot all to hell" Sakura stated.

"Very smart you are Sakura-chan, now leave an old man to his rest" Kakashi shooed the girl off so that he could get some more rest and Sakura stood and left him with a small giggle, not long after he was out like a light glad that he would have time to recover.

Later on around dinner time he guessed his own female student appeared to give him supper, the girl was subdued and not as loud as usual "Forehead told me that if I disturbed you to much, she'd knock me out till next week" Karin grumbled at the inquiring look.

Kakashi as much as he wanted to applaud Sakura wisely didn't comment on the threat and ate quietly, then Karin took the tray and left the guest room he was set up in, that was the first day, he was stuck in bed.

The second day his fellow Jonin joined him "Zabuza's alive, his death was faked" Inoichi said once he was sat seiza beside the futon Kakashi was resting on, though when Kakashi nodded he gave the man a confused look.

"I know, and Sakura told me that he won't be fully recovered until next week, I'm gonna take my genin out to train once I'm up to moving around" Kakashi explained, Inoichi chuckled and didn't complain about the job pushed off on him.

"Guess that leaves watching over Tazuna-san and his family up to my genin and I" the blonde agreed that it was probably the wisest course of action at the moment and left Kakashi's guest room to dole out orders.

On the third day Kakashi was allowed out of bed and so he took his three genin to train "Say Inoichi-sensei shouldn't one of us stay here with Tsunami-san" Genma asked around a senbon needle, people swore he even slept with one in his mouth.

The blonde paused "Don't worry about it I'll stay" Sakura offered herself up willingly, she would probably be more help at the house than on the bridge anyway, Inoichi nodded in acceptance and started for the door after their client.

"Just be safe Sakura and try not to get into to much trouble" Yamato waved and she gave him an exasperated sigh, though it was the truth, in the next moment the door was shut behind him and she turned to help Tsunami with whatever the woman wanted.

When the lot of them returned dinner was ready and they all enjoyed the meal prepared by the two females even the seven year old couldn't find any complaints "Your still gonna die" Inari claimed as he ran off to his room.

Sakura rolled her eyes 'Relax Koneko-chan the worst has yet to come' Matatabi called from within drawing her host into her psyche, Sakura jolted not having expected to be pulled to her inner world so suddenly, that was a bamboo forest and downright gorgeous.

"I know Matatabi-chan I can feel it, I don't think Zabuza-san is our biggest concern anymore" the pinkette sighed, having got the sense for the last few days of being watched, it could be those damn human traffickers again which didn't bode well for her, or Karin.

A moment later she was drawn from her psyche as someone shook her shoulder "Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan can you here me, speak to me Sakura-chan don't go into shock" it was Naruto, who was calling her name over and over.

Her emerald orbs blinked into focus, Naruto let out a sigh of relief "Kami forehead don't do that again" the red head at the table scowled furiously inwardly wondering what the hell the girl was thinking about so deeply that she'd lose focus on her surroundings.

"Karin's right, we need you to keep a clear head, since your the one experienced and all that" Sasuke rolled his eyes with a scowl himself, with that they all finished eating and headed for bed in their separate guest rooms.

That was the third day, and the fourth and fifth were pretty much repeats, but it was on the sixth that everything came to a headway, as Matatabi had predicted trouble caught up with her host as she was patrolling with Karin on orders of their sensei's.

At the halfway mark and partially into the forest that surrounded the village, they were stopped "My, my and here I thought we wouldn't find any exotic beauties" a few men were suddenly stood in front of the two girls.

Dread filled them "Karin I need you to do exactly as I say is that understood" the pinkette started slowly, taking a defensive stance in front of the other girl, emerald orbs slit like a cats and glaring harshly at the men that were clearly human traffickers.

"Looks like they got some spirit in them" one of the men whistled anticipating the chase the two girls were going to lead them on, Karin was shaking like a leaf like usual whenever trouble caught up with them.

But Karin did nod "Good, now I'm going to make a deal, I'll go with you willingly, if you let her go, there are plenty of red heads in this world, but I'm the only girl with pink hair" Sakura focused her gaze on the three men once more.

Who considered the offer "Fine the red head can go" they finally agreed to the condition given, Karin didn't so much as give a backwards glance to Sakura, simply took off at a run back to Tazuna's house leaving Sakura behind to handle their newest problem.

For a ways the girl let herself be drug off biding her time, because she didn't want to draw attention to herself or the extent of her capabilities, they were stood in a clearing when she finally retaliated at the demand of the two tails sealed inside of her.

Then the men suddenly had new things to worry about as their captive sprouted a flaming blue cape, flaming blue tails, her eyes became mismatched and ears appeared on the top of her head "HEY THIS WAS NOT THE DEAL" the obvious leader yelled in outrage

Just as their captive opened her mouth and spat out a blue flame that shook on the shape of a mouse, then split into several smaller which exploded in their faces "Pity for you then, cause I don't intend on being captured ever again by you sicko's" the pinkette called.

Fingernails and toenails long and sharp, with a single swipe of them, she sliced through a thigh of one of the men, he went down and with a crushing kick, went flying backwards and slammed into a tree, he was out for the count.

The fight had drawn unwanted attention in the form of the partially recovered Zabuza Momochi, he stood hidden in a tree, chakra suppressed, dark brown eyes locked onto the form of the pink haired kunoichi, who'd beat his clone and managed to get him away from Kakashi.

He wore a contemplative expression on his face with a hand on his executioners blade, the fight became even more interesting in the next moment as the red head on the Copy Ninja's team came flying out of the tree line.

The pink haired girl whipped around "KARIN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING" she quickly relented with her tailed beast form before the girl could see it, which made the fight ten times more difficult.

"Like Hell I'm letting you show me up again, I'm gonna beat these guys to impress Sasuke-kun" Karin snapped and Sakura was tempted to throttle her as it was, she didn't have a chance as someone blind sided her.

And it was her turn to go flying into a tree and slam into it painfully 'Koneko-chan' Matatabi was immediately worried about her host when the girl didn't get back up immediately and sat there at the base of the tree a dazed look in her eyes.

But she managed to shake it off and leap back into the fray dragging Karin out of the way of nearly being gutted and slam her still elongated nails into the mans stomach, his eyes widened in shock as they clashed with those of the slit emerald.

Now it was down to one human trafficker as the former two retreated as fast as they could leaving their leader to handle the two girls "Whats it going to be, as it is you don't stand a chance against me" the pinkette spoke when all the man did was stare at them angrily.

Karin didn't handle the silence well "Clearly your off your rocker forehead, you didn't kill either of those other two" the red head glowered only to start shrieking as that familiar gargantuan sword from six days earlier came flying towards them and hacked right through the man in front of them.

Following the sword was the rogue that was indeed still alive, though clearly still not fully recovered "Interesting little girl aren't you" the raven haired male focused his dark brown eyes on the slightly taller girl.

Who immediately straightened uncaring of the corpse "Your reaction times are still off, you wouldn't be able to catch us should we run" Sakura stated simply, edging backwards and yanking the red head forcefully with her, because the girl just had to be an idiot.

The man nodded in agreement "Naruto was right you are a no eyebrow freak, do you know how wrong this is" Karin pointed an accusing finger at the man before them, Sakura shook her head and glanced around warily for the man's back up.

He caught her movements "Smart little girly to, you knew that I had back up after all, now for what I came here, in two days time will be round two" Zabuza warned intending on leaving right then and there.

But out of nowhere a tall red haired male jumped down in front of the two girls "Just couldn't stay out of trouble could you brat, what the hell are you doing fighting against Zabuza Momochi of all rogues" a hazel eyed glare was directed Zabuza's way.

The younger red head promptly lost consciousness and Sakura felt sick to her stomach "Sasori Akasuna and you should speak for yourself, you're a rogue to from the Hidden Sand Village, by the way I'm not fighting him" the pinkette could hit herself of course things just had to get worse.

Sasori craned his neck around to spy the brat who was definitely not pleased to see him "Well you might be fighting me, because I was hired to take out a bridge builder named Tazuna" Sasori smirked and her expression darkened.

"Don't you even fucking dare, I have had it up to my eyeballs with rogues and human traffickers, if you go after Tazuna I will blast your puppet body to pieces" Sakura spat furiously knowing Sasori's carefully kept from the world secret.

His brows raised high into his hairline "I think she's serious Akasuna" the raven haired male chuckled darkly in amusement, finding the situation hilarious, sticking around a little longer to find out how things were going to go.

The red head sported a sour expression "And here I thought we were friends brat, considering I saved your ass twice you owe me a debt" he lifted a brow, not moving to attack, Sakura grit her teeth and ground them audibly.

As she tried to find a way out of the situation she was in "Yes well I didn't out you when I could have when my team came for me after I was taken for the second time so that would make us even" the pinkette snipped out.

Clearly not afraid to hold that over the mans head, Sasori couldn't believe his ears "Guess that does make us even doesn't it, by the way brat I was joking, I actually caught wind of those human traffickers and came to see if you were in trouble with them again" the red head smirked.

Making the girl lunge and try to punch him putting her in range of the other rogue, who took advantage of the moment "Here I thought you wouldn't fall for such tricks" Zabuza chuckled menacingly in her ear, holding her by the throat.

Her heart was pounding harshly in her chest, the panic was definitely rising and Matatabi tried to break free of her host to help her out 'No, Sasori is from the Akatsuki Organization, if he finds out your sealed inside me it's all over' Sakura dissuaded the two tails from helping her.

Who definitely wasn't pleased 'Koneko-chan I'll protect you against them, please let me help you' Matatabi paced the confines of her hosts psyche, tails twitching in frustration at the situation they were both in.

Even the other rogue didn't like the situation and he cursed himself for being so oblivious "You have two options Momochi release the girl and go free or die if you touch her further" Sasori warned switching from being the bad guy to helping out the brat yet again.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes and tightened his hand around the girls throat, the other still unconscious "One question girl just what are you, why do you remind me so much of Utakata" he demanded an answer to one of his various questions.

Sakura's eyes snapped open at the familiar name "Utakata you know Utakata-san and by the way I have no idea what your talking about, I'm just regular ole Sakura Haruno" the pinkette turned her head as much as she was allowed and her emerald orbs bore deep into dark brown.

Pleading with those irises not to say anymore on the subject at hand "I'm warning you now Momochi you better release the brat now" Sasori warned yet again oblivious to the silent conversation going on.

In the end Zabuza relented to the girls relief and didn't ask again "Oh and what would you do if I still had a hold of the brat, she would just be in your way" the raven haired male taunted, just enjoying the game for the moment.

Sasori realized this for himself in the next second as the girl was brought closer and a kunai was added to the mix held up to her jugular and she thought belatedly with how long she and Karin had been gone that no one had come to see what was taking them.

Or perhaps the others thought they were finally becoming friends and spending time getting to know each other after making their rounds "Do you really want to spend more time recovering Momochi-san" Sakura decided to end the game the two rogues were playing herself.

Who both looked at her in surprise, though if anything the grip on her was tightened, by that point the whole confrontation had just gotten ridiculous and even Matatabi was growing bored just as the unconscious girl decided to wake up and make things even more complicated.

"HEY LET GO OF FOREHEAD YOU NO EYEBROW FREAK" Karin shrieked seeing the situation the pink haired girl had gotten herself in while she was unconscious, Sakura rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Before opening her mouth "Because insulting people get you everywhere thank you Karin for being an even bigger loud mouth than Ino" the pinkette deadpanned raising her elbow and slamming it into sore ribs to be released.

Zabuza reeled back and his captive leaped away from him to stand next to Karin and brushed off her clothes "If you could do that in the first place, why the hell did you stand there letting him try to crush your throat like an idiot" Sasori hissed furiously whirling on the girl.

"I wanted to know about Utakata, he is my goal, I wish to find him and ask what he meant long ago when I met him back when I was eight" she crossed her arms, feeling exhausted all of a sudden, this was definitely not how she imagined her day going.

Sasori opened his mouth then snapped it close in the next moment he was gone without another word finding it pointless to keep arguing "Damn brat you might have set me back another day with that blow of yours" Zabuza growled rubbing his ribs where she'd struck.

Karin opened her mouth to retort only to have a hand slammed over her mouth and a warning look cast her way "Keep your mouth shut Karin or so help me I'll be the next one to knock your ass out" Sakura snapped irritated beyond belief.

The red head went pale at the threat "Now we are going to leave here and NEVER mention what happened is that clear and Momochi-san you will be fine what I did wasn't even half the damage I could have done" then the pink haired kunoichi grabbed the red head by the hand and was gone.

Upon returning to Tazuna's house Sakura dropped Karin's hand, reported that nothing had gone on and then disappeared up the stairs, while Karin silently nodded in agreement and sat down quietly subdued for the moment, later on after dinner the house settled down to get some sleep.


	10. Meeting the Demon Part 2 End

The very next morning Sakura felt more restless than ever and after breakfast paced the whole of the small village several times over "So is there a reason you can't stand still for like five seconds" surprisingly Sasuke was the one walking with her as they patrolled.

"I just get the feeling that something unexpected is going to happen and I don't mean Zabuza" Sakura frowned deeply as she peered off into the distance, emerald orbs scanning around cautiously and it was obvious she was deeply on edge.

Sasuke shrugged and fell silent 'Koneko-chan when's the last time you sent Raikage-sama a message, perhaps that's why you feel restless' Matatabi offered doing the same as her host and pacing back and forth restlessly in her inner world.

A contemplative expression formed and Sakura thought on the idea, then shook her head "Come on Sasuke, lets go back to the house for a bit, check on Tsunami-san" the pinkette eventually sighed deciding to do something productive.

"Fine are you ever going to tell me what the hell is going on with you, I know we aren't friends but you got even weirder after you disappeared for nearly three weeks" the raven haired preteen prodded insistently.

But like usual got nothing but silence on the subject as they returned to the house "Oh I thought you two were out patrolling" Tsunami spotted them coming out the side door and form matching relieved expressions, they must have been worried when they didn't see her inside.

The pink haired Jinchuuriki not that many knew it just a select few even went so far as to offer her help in picking herbs from the forest "Guess I'll be back then" Sakura smiled taking a wicker basket and giving her unlikely partner a look.

"Don't worry I can handle things here while everyone else is busy" Sasuke shrugged her off and Sakura vanished into the forest, still feeling extremely restless, but like she decided was going to be productive waiting for whatever was coming.

It wasn't more than ten minutes later that someone joined her in picking herbs "You are the girl that peaks Zabuza-sama's interest" it was the hidden chakra, Zabuza's backup and her back went as rigid as a board at his appearance.

But she tilted her head to the side politely "Can't help it, I'm a trouble magnet, really got kidnapped by Human Traffickers twice awhile back, just been nothing but chaotic since I was brought back, the names Sakura Haruno" she introduced herself.

"And I am Haku from the Yuki Clan" the boy gave her a kind smile minding his own business as he picked herbs and after a few minutes the girl relaxed and continued her own task of picking herbs at the request of Tsunami.

When she was done, Sakura stood with the wicker basket in hand and prepared to head off "This is where you ran off to, fraternizing with the enemy" Zabuza's deep voice washed over them and her head snapped in his direction, emerald eyes narrowed and slit like a cats.

Completely on edge "If you flare your chakra so close by you'll be fighting Kakashi-sensei and Inoichi-sensei a day early" Sakura warned gripping the wicker basket tightly and backing up warily putting distance between her and him.

Zabuza chuckled darkly "Do you really think your sensei's will be able to get to you in time" Haku rose to his feet, standing close to his Master, who was playing a game of cat and mouse with the preteen girl.

"No but I would be able to" a new voice filled the air followed by the crackling of electricity and Sakura found herself plucked off her feet, herbs scattered as she dropped her basket and being held under one arm of the Raikage himself.

Her skin paled and her eyes widened in shock 'Well found my restless feeling' she grimaced inwardly to the two tails "Raikage-sama what brings you here all the way to water country" her stomach rolled uncomfortably.

The man sent her a scathing glare "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING HERE YOU STINKIN PINK HAIRED BRAT IT'S BEEN THREE WEEKS SINCE I LAST GOT A DAMN LETTER FROM YOU SO I WAS WORRIED" Ay snarled predictably.

If she could she would of found a rock to hide under "If we're being technical it's not even been two weeks Raikage-sama" Sakura smiled sheepishly, her and her mouth because in the next moment, she was on her feet and a hand was slammed down on top of her head.

"Damn brat see what happens when we left you off on your own, you go around getting into trouble with rogues, first it was human traffickers, I'm beginning to wonder if allowing you to leave your village is even wise" the Raikage growled.

Sakura held up her hands in surrender "Th..This is totally not my fault and I wasn't in trouble, I can handle myself just fine thank you and they were leaving right, Right" the pinkette sent a get the hell out of there while they could look at the two rogues, who didn't get the hint.

"Why does the Raikage care about a brat from the Hidden Leaf Village" the raven haired male questioned with narrowed eyes, the situation just kept getting weirder and weirder to him and he was determined to get his answers.

A shudder crawled down her spine as the chakra became oppressive to the point of nearly making her pass out "Pink haired brat here is related to me distantly and every time I let her out of my sights people get stupid ideas of kidnapping her" the white haired male grumbled.

Now there was a surprise just as two more people joined them "Kami Kid, you really are just a trouble magnet aren't you" Darui whistled and she was about to call it quits because this entire situation had just gotten completely ridiculous.

"The hell is going on here" Kakashi stepped through the tree's having felt the Raikage's chakra and had offered to check it out, only to find their enemy, the Raikage, Sakura and two Cloud Shinobi standing around chatting it up like no tomorrow.

"Can someone just you know open up a black hole or something so I'm not part of this conversation anymore" Sakura ran a hand down her face tiredly looking as if she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep for nearly a week.

On her right was the blonde she'd befriended "Unfortunately not Sakura-san" Cee patted her gently on the back as they all focused on the two obvious rogues from the Hidden Mist Village, waiting to see how they'd act.

Getting the distinct feeling that it would be wiser to leave for the time being "Haku" Zabuza commanded his subordinate and they vanished in a swirl of mist, back to the base, they hadn't expected the situation to escalate so quickly.

At their disappearance the Raikage whirled on the young girl who was related to him "What the hell were you doing anyway" Ay scowled deeply, he'd been overcome with worry upon seeing the scene and hearing the threat.

"I was gathering herbs when they approached, believe me I'd intended on running, he's still not fully recovered and he won't risk being set back anymore days" the pinkette explained, shoulders slumped and ready to take a nap for possibly the rest of the day.

Brows creased "Right anyway we came here because we got word of more human traffickers headed this way after you again" the blonde remembered their sole reasoning for hurrying here after getting a message from the Hokage that this was where the girl was.

Her emerald eyes widened "Been here already and taken care of, they were no challenge" Sakura admitted quietly and Kakashi's lone onyx eye narrowed in response, remembering the day before where his sole female student and Sakura had returned subdued for some reason.

"So that's what happened yesterday and why Karin was so quiet when you came back to the house" the silver haired nin pointed out bluntly and got a single nod in response, it was the partial truth, but obviously she was wearing down after being so restless earlier that morning.

Though the reason was clearly because of the Raikage "Taken care of and no challenge huh, seems you've improved enough to handle yourself in a fight then" the younger white haired male chuckled lightly.

With that and his business complete since he'd promised not to interfere in the brats mission, even if he wanted to obliterate every threat there was to the girl, which included the rogues that were poking their noses in her business, the Raikage left and his shinobi followed.

Leaving the brat alone with the silver haired Jonin "You should return to the house" the Copy Ninja stated, he actually cared about Sakura, she was everything Karin was not and he'd rather have two Jinchuuriki on his team if that was the price he had to pay to have her.

She let out a long suffering sigh "Tsunami-san requested that I gather herbs, if I don't bring some back, she'll be upset, go on Kakashi-sensei, I don't think those two will be back any time soon, it will probably be a couple more days before they feel confident enough" the pinkette said.

He gave her a look that said stay out of trouble, then turned on his heel and left, once he was gone, she bent and grabbed up the wicker basket, only to begin her arduous task of picking herbs again for Tsunami, who felt she needed them for whatever reason.

Things were going moderately well for once and with a grin rose to her feet, wicker basket full for the second time and started back in the direction of Tazuna, just as her ears picked up on the sound of a twig snapping "For kami's sake you better not be ba….." Sakura whirled angrily.

Only to cut off mid sentence just as a hand slammed into her cheek and a cry slipped through her lips "You filthy little whore fraternizing with Cloud Shinobi of all people" emerald eyes widened in horror at the familiar voice of her adopted mother.

Wicker basket dropped and herbs dumped for the second time, Sakura sat on the ground holding a hand to her cheek in shock "A..At least they acknowledge that I exist unlike you" she spat feeling extremely hurt, she didn't understand what she'd done wrong.

The commotion drew unwanted attention yet again for the second day in a row "Don't you dare talk back to me you ungrateful brat, I wish we'd never adopted you if this is how your going to act now" Mebuki snapped right back.

Her heart dropped into her stomach at the hateful words "Indeed we specifically told you that if you left the house you'd be grounded for months" Kizashi stepped through the tree line, eyeing his adopted daughter with a cold look in his blue eyes.

"I'm a Ninja, I can't…" Sakura spoke up only to be slapped, tears gathered in her eyes, but they didn't quite yet fall, why did these sorts of things always happen to her, it was extremely unfair and the people who'd adopted her didn't even care anymore, that hurt more than anything.

Kizashi shook his head "When you return we want you gone from our house is that clear, we don't associate with shinobi and I regret ever letting you join the academy to become one, as it's changed you" the dull pink haired male said.

That was the last straw that broke the camels back as the two Haruno's left, leaving the girl to curl into a ball "And here I thought that nothing could break through that tough exterior of yours" Zabuza whistled, but the girl was in a world of her own.

He didn't want to admit it, but it kind of bothered him that she ignored him unaware of the danger looming so close to her, as he stepped close bloodshot emerald eyes turned his way "Why on gods green earth did you come back" the pinkette sighed obviously in no mood to really put on airs.

Zabuza lifted one of his nonexistent eyebrows "You shouldn't wear your heart on your sleeve, put a lock on your emotions and you wouldn't get hurt by people anymore" the raven haired male shrugged ignoring the question.

Her head snapped in his direction "Even if I did that now there would be no point to it, because their the only ones that have ever hurt me this way and since I won't have any further dealings with them there's no reason to try" another one of those sighs fell from her lips.

As she reached for that damn wicker basket and yet again began trying to gather the herbs, by that point it was just something to focus her mind on in order to shove all her hurt, anger and upset to the side, she had a mission and she would complete it no matter what.

"Pathetic, it's not as if it's the end of the world, get over it" Zabuza snorted harshly, but all he got for his efforts was a blank stare, it appeared the girl really had lost her mind over something so trivial as her parents going completely insane and thrusting her out on her own.

She blinked "It's not even that I just don….ow that hurts like a motherfucker" Sakura cursed under her breath as it suddenly occurred to her that her cheek was in fact fractured and throbbing like never before.

Nonexistent brows rose high "Such a foul mouth for a little girl, didn't your parents ever teach you not to cuss you are supposed to be a lady after all" the raven haired male focused his dark brown eyes on the young girl and spoke words dripping with amusement.

To his surprise she snorted harshly in the next moment "Please they aren't my real parents, never have been, nor have they been around to teach me anything in the last several years" the pink haired preteen scoffed.

Zabuza blinked at the information given then watched carefully as the girl raised one of her hands it glowing green and press it to her swollen and fractured cheek 'Koneko-chan let me handle that' Matatabi called out from her host's psyche knowing the girl wouldn't be able to heal it completely.

Her hand lowered a second later and the green chakra faded 'Matatabi-chan I'm glad I have you with me and that makes me stronger than them' emerald eyes softened and a loud purr echoed in her head as the two tails allowed a little bit of her chakra to speed up the healing process of her host.

"I think I understand now the feeling I get when I see you that reminds me of Utakata, you're a Jinchuuriki like him" Zabuza rumbled out breaking the girl from whatever world she'd immersed herself in going on auto pilot as she picked herbs.

She jolted "Utakata's a Jinchuuriki I guess that's why I felt a kinship with him and why he told me to be strong" Sakura could just feel her dream shattering, being ripped out from beneath her feet, but she held fast, she still wanted to find him.

Zabuza smirked "You admit it now yet you practically begged me not to ask you before when that other rogue was around" the raven haired male leaned forward intending on getting his answers now, Sakura was quick though and was on her feet in a flash, wicker basket abandoned.

"Because Sasori's not your average rogue, where you might be at least B-A Class at best, he's S-Class and if he ever finds out I'm a Jinchuuriki then the whole Akatsuki Organization will be after me, right now they don't know I'm one and it's best it stays that way" the pinkette rushed out.

A sense of urgency in her words complete with looking around cautiously, nothing could get her more frightened than having to face against Sasori Akasuna or any of the other members of Akatsuki and she knew there were several.

He took in the emerald eyes that were wide and wild like a caged beast waiting to break free of it's confines and the way she was now completely on edge "And just how did you encounter that guy anyway" Zabuza decided to drop his previous line of conversation and start a new one.

It wasn't more than second later she was sat back before the wicker basket "Human Traffickers kidnapped me from the Leaf Village and she happened to get free and lead me into Lightning Country, he gave me food and a warm cloak the first time" Sakura explained.

Eyeing the basket and looking around for any herbs she might have missed "The second time I don't know where I was exactly, but he sensed my chakra and helped me out when the Human Traffickers took me from the Cloud Village" she finished, then stood.

Moments later she was gone headed back to Tazuna's with the herbs "Sakura-chan whoa are you alright you don't look so good" Genma was there, Sasuke no where in sight, probably off training again or something.

She gave him a tiny smile all she could muster at the moment "Well it's official my adoptive parents lost their minds, came here to tell me that they no longer want me when their the ones who adopted me and then stopped caring, I at least tried" Sakura sighed handing over the wicker basket.

To Tsunami who looked completely horrified at what had been revealed and Genma's jaw slackened to the point he dropped his senbon needle it fell from his lips "They kicked you out over this" the brunette with brown eyes asked in disbelief.

"Yep said that they didn't associate with shinobi and that they should have never allowed me to become one as it changed me to much, their the ones who changed not me right" apparently she wasn't to sure on this quite yet herself.

Her teammate who'd made plenty of effort not to ostracize the girl carefully wrapped an arm around her shoulders "Go ahead Sakura-chan you don't have to be strong you can cry on my shoulder" Genma soothed.

Only then did the tears she'd suppressed and intended on not releasing burst forth in a torrent, it had been a long time since she'd cried "I..It's not fair why am I being punished all the time" the pinkette cried.

Until she couldn't cry anymore and finally fell asleep "Poor thing, would you like me to carry up to your guest room so she could get some rest" Tsunami offered feeling for the small girl, who'd really tried her absolute hardest on this mission, yet bad things kept happening to her.

"Nah I got her thanks though Tsunami-san" the brunette scooped his teammate up with ease that would make others jealous and carried up her the stairs before tucking her into the futon making sure she was alright before going back down.

Just as the rest of his team and the others returned "Where's Sakura, she is back right it doesn't take this long to collect herbs" Kakashi immediately noticed the girls absence and narrowed his lone onyx eye, he'd told Inoichi of course what had happened, but to find her not there was disconcerting.

The brunette pointed to the ceiling "Upstairs, I don't know what happened, but while she was on her own, her parents showed up and basically told her they didn't want her anymore, was pretty upset, first time I've ever seen her cry that much" Genma answered.

Kakashi felt his heart nearly stop in his chest "Her parents kicked her out, why would they do something like that to their own daughter, I know forehead's weird, but geez not even I would be that cruel to my own child" Karin was the one to speak next.

"If you'd been paying attention Karin, Sakura-chan has had ongoing problems with her parents for a few years now, and they aren't even her real parents, they adopted her and then decided they didn't even want her anymore that's not right Believe it" Naruto burst out angrily.

Before vanishing up the steps to check on his best friend "Naruto-san is right Karin-san, Kakashi, they didn't even show up for the graduation ceremony, nor have they been around long enough to find out that she was kidnapped" Inoichi grudgingly agreed with the younger blonde.

"And they try to treat her like a normal civilian child" Yamato pointed out, onyx eyes shifting to the ceiling and he was the next one to disappear to find out how his teammate was doing, the poor girl didn't deserve anything that happened to her.

With all the revelations even the Uchiha on the team was horrified "But why would they adopt her then if later on down the road they decided they didn't want her" Sasuke blurted loudly before wincing as he remembered the girl was asleep.

None of them had an answer for him as they all split up around the house "Poor girl, I feel guilty that all the problems she's going through is my fault" Tazuna and Tsunami were all that remained in the living room when all the shinobi scattered.

Tsunami didn't know what to tell her father, instead patted him on the back and headed off to make an early dinner, fully intending on giving the girl something to eat first, who didn't come down at all for the rest of the day.

Though she did come down the next morning to everyone's surprise, looking as if she'd had an extremely rough night, deep black bags were beneath her eyes and her hair was in complete disarray, even her clothes were wrinkled beyond repair.

"M'ning" Sakura croaked tiredly, eyes unfocused and running on auto-pilot, or the beast sealed inside of her was in control without fully taking over, when they realized she was going to try and help make breakfast in her state, Sasuke leaped onto his feet.

Grabbed her by the shoulders and directed her to the empty chair between her own teammates "You'll burn the house down if you try to cook" the raven haired preteen scoffed trying to keep his insults and dislike of the girl to a minimum.

Sakura blinked at him sluggishly "Perhaps" the pinkette agreed sullenly sitting quietly between her teammates, who were doing their best not to crowd her or keep asking questions that would probably make her feel even worse.

When they realized she was intending on going with them to the bridge Kakashi spoke up hastily "You should stay here and rest Sakura-chan, Naruto has to stay behind because he stayed up all night himself" the silver haired nin suggested kindly.

And pointed to Naruto who was falling asleep in the chair, her emerald irises alighted on the boy "Wh..What's going on Sakura-chan are you okay" the blonde fell out of his chair as she tapped his shoulder, a moment later he calmed down and then together they headed back upstairs.

Kakashi blew out a breath "Come on lets get today over with" the older blonde sighed, he'd never seen the girl so depressed it was extremely disconcerting to say the least and then there was the matter of where she'd live when they got back to the village.

Things had gotten a little messed up "Right hopefully by tomorrow the bridge will be done" the Bridge Builder piped in as they all began walking in the direction of the almost finished bridge, then Gato would no longer have any power over the village.

It was Karin who realized that something wasn't quite right with the scene they happened upon "It's them Kakashi-sensei, those rogues" the red head shrieked managing to keep her volume reigned in for once as the mist was impossibly thick.

"So you finally got a brain in your head kudos to you girly, where's the other one, the smart one" Zabuza's dark voice filled the air at the end of the bridge as the mist dissipated enough so that he and his apprentice was seen.

Even the boy seemed curious about the other girls absence "Quite I was so anticipating fighting her" Haku admitted quietly, earning glares from the two boys on the missing girls team, who were clearly in not very good moods.

"You leave Sakura-chan out of your mess, she has enough problems of her own without having to deal with you" the brunette with brown eyes snapped already brandishing several of his senbon needles as anger welled up in him.

Sakura had grown on him and their other teammate "Exactly and by the time she wakes up this whole fight will be over" the brunette with onyx eyes predicted, he didn't want his teammate to have to fight, it wouldn't be right.

Zabuza narrowed his dark brown eyes "Very well then shall we begin the fight" the raven haired male mock bowed creating a bunch of water clones, that were all taken out by the Uchiha, Haku shot forward afterwards.

"Give up you stand no chance against me" the brunette wearing the fake hunter nin mask warned as the two boys fought, two of the genin missing, the two jonin watching carefully and the remaining three genin waiting for a chance to shine.

The fight wore on for a short time until the boy in the mask was kicked backwards, it was then he decided to stop messing around and use his kekkeigenkai against the Uchiha, who now really stood no chance against the brown haired boy.

Meanwhile back at Tazuna's the nine tailed Jinchuuriki was awake and raring to go, "Are you sure" the blue haired woman inquired softly, tilting her gaze to the ceiling where a certain pink haired genin was still fast asleep.

The boy flashed her a whiskered grin and was gone, though he returned soon afterwards to take care of the sudden problem, during the commotion though his friend had woken 'That boy, Haku is going to die' was the first thing out of Matatabi's mouth when her host was conscious.

Emerald orbs narrowed and gleamed with determination 'No more throwing a pity party, it's time to end this ridiculous mission' the pink haired Jinchuuriki of the two tailed cat rose to her feet, rested enough that she'd be able to fight effectively and left through the window.

When she arrived on scene, she was immediately concerned "Inoichi-sensei, where's Genma" Sakura frowned eyes scanning through the thick mist, it was dulling her senses so she couldn't feel where the others were.

Her sensei jolted in response at her voice "Helping Naruto-san and Sasuke-san, their fighting against the boy, Yamato and Karin-san are protecting Tazuna-san and Kakashi-san is squaring off against Zabuza-san" Inoichi explained.

Sakura blew out a breath "That boy is going to die, is there anyway that we can save him Inoichi-sensei" the pinkette inquired quietly, after all the horrors she'd faced, the troubles she'd encountered, she didn't relish in anymore life lost.

Inoichi glanced down at the young girl "Do you think you'll be able to get to him in time, I have this feeling that Gato-san is going to betray those two, so technically they wouldn't be our enemies any longer" the blonde questioned.

At the question the girl lowered her gaze to the ground "He's fast, but if I can get to Kakashi-sensei I might be able to redirect the blow that will kill the boy, he'll be hurt yes, but not dead" Sakura finally answered.

"First though, go check on Yamato and Karin-san, make sure their doing alright, I heard Karin-san scream a little bit ago before you joined us" Inoichi pointed directly in front of them and the girl hurried through the mist.

Nearly slamming into Tazuna, who completely freaked out "SOMEONE SAVE ME, I DON'T WANT TO DIE" Tazuna wailed eyes squeezed shut waiting for his death, only to hear a familiar sigh, his eyes popped open and he saw Sakura standing behind him.

Tazuna rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly "Sakura what are you doing here, your supposed to be resting" Yamato scolded keeping an eye on the passed out girl at his side, who'd fainted when Zabuza had appeared behind them.

"I'm rested enough and there's no way I'm going to miss the end of this fight, besides I have a score to settle with Gato, this is entirely his fault and he's going to pay" the pink haired Jinchuuriki vowed, having directed her anger onto the only person who she saw as guilty.

Yamato eyed his teammate warily just as the unconscious girl came round "What exactly are you doing here pink haired freak" Karin rounded on the slightly older girl angrily, this was her time to shine and she couldn't do that if the other girl was there standing in her way.

This earned her a reprimanding glare and Karin shrunk back "This is no time to be messing around trying to show off Karin, it's a matter of life or death" Sakura stated not even deigning to grace the girl with another look.

"Very scary Sakura just promise me you'll be careful whatever your planning to do" the brunette quipped dryly in amusement, with Sakura back in their ranks this fight was as good as over, she wasn't a normal girl after all.

Karin huffed and crossed her arms "I'll beat you one of these days and impress Sasuke-kun, it might not be today, but someday" the red head grumbled and stepped back to stand in front of Tazuna, who had stood.

"Good luck then Sakura" the bridge builder nodded and then the girl vanished into the mist to help out her other teammates possibly, nobody knew what Sakura was planning, but it would end with them being the victors over that particular fight and come out stronger.

Charging through mist with zero visibility and unable to sense others chakra was extremely difficult Sakura thought inwardly 'Koneko-chan your to much sometimes' Matatabi shook her head in amusement at her host.

Especially when the girl slammed into something solid that was freezing cold and she leaped back hastily, it was then that Sakura was finally able to sense the chakra within the dome and knew instantly where she was.

With a deep breath Sakura drew back her hand channeling chakra into it then with all her strength punched what she thought looked like a giant mirror of ice, the moment her knuckles brushed the surface of it, she released all the pent up chakra in her fist and the ice mirror exploded upon impact.

Before her position was given away, she suppressed her chakra and used the mist to her advantage and ran around what she knew was a dome made out of ice and launched her second attack, destroying another ice mirror with chakra enhanced strength.

This time her eyes met those of Sasuke's as he spotted her just before she disappeared into the surrounding mist, "Come on Dope, Genma we can do this if we work together" Sasuke leaped onto his feet ready to try again.

"In case you haven't noticed Teme, no matter how much teamwork we use we're trapped in here and every time we try we get a barrage of senbon needles" Naruto whirled angrily on his teammate and waved his hands madly.

Off to the side the remaining brunette, who'd also noticed that his own teammate was helping them rose to his feet himself "Naruto, we aren't alone" Genma hinted and out of the corner of his eye saw a flash of pink followed by one of the ice mirrors that kept them trapped shattering.

The third one and then she was gone again, she really was a smart one that girl, baby blue eyes widened as Naruto caught on to what was going on and it was clear their opponent hadn't realized what was going on yet himself.

He was still concerned over the fact that three of his ice mirrors had been shattered mysteriously "You can try but no matter how hard you struggle you won't win" Haku called attacking again, hitting nerves easily and the three boys fell to their knee's yet again.

Meanwhile Sakura was realizing that all she was doing was wasting her chakra 'Koneko-chan use some of my chakra' Matatabi shared some of her chakra with her host, and the girl took a deep breath forgoing the hand signs.

And spat out a thick ball of blue flames that immediately collided with the ice mirror she was stood in front of and spread like wild fire, it spread out like a thick sheet of blue fire, catching fire on ice mirrors next to the one she was stood in front of.

Panic filled the air from those within the dome, they would be safe from the flames because she willed it, she controlled them, but for the boy using the mirrors to launch his attack, he had to quickly escape his own jutsu lest he be burned alive by the blue flames.

"So it's you then, I wanted to fight you Sakura-san" Haku brushed his haori off, in his haste to escape, his mask had fallen off revealing doe brown eyes and youthful features, he was only a child and yet he was strong.

As soon as Haku had left the safety of his mirrors, the dome of ice had shattered and the three senbon needle riddled boys flopped down on their butts "That's Sakura-chan for ya, her blue flames are awesome believe it" the blonde punched the air tiredly in a victory fist pump.

Sasuke rolled his eyes tiredly in annoyance "Yeah, yeah whatever she saved our asses, she better not rub it in" the raven haired preteen groaned wishing he could just fall back and go to sleep, he was exhausted after getting his ass kicked.

Genma chuckled lightly and produced yet another senbon needle to shove in his mouth and chew on the end of "If Sakura-chan does rub it in and brag, she deserves it" the brunette with brown eyes spoke on behalf of his teammate.

Who back-flipped in front of them suddenly "Do something about this mist, I know you have wind nature chakra Naruto, use a jutsu from this book, Sasuke, Genma help him out please, this mist is driving me crazy" the pinkette tossed a book down in Naruto's lap.

Then was gone in the next moment, no doubt handling their previous opponent, who'd quite thoroughly whipped their asses and with no choice but to do as requested, the blonde hurriedly flipped through the book and settled on the wind dragon jutsu.

Both boys on either side of him helped him quickly memorize the hand signs and talked him through the technique "I…I think I've got it Futon: Wind Dragon Jutsu" Naruto clumsily formed the hand signs he'd memorized on the spot.

And off to the side a large dragon made out of wind came to life, the air pressure rose making it difficult to breathe "Now Dope, use the wind blast jutsu in conjunction with the wind dragon, like we agreed upon" Sasuke instructed.

"You can do it Naruto, just believe in yourself like Sakura-chan believes in you" Genma patted the boy gently on the back boosting his confidence in the next moment a large blast of wind went sailing through the air from the wind dragon.

Clearing the mist with ease, all eyes turned onto the three boys "It's amazing what they can do when they work together isn't it Haku-san" Sakura smiled fondly glad that she could see again and quickly noted the positions of Kakashi and Zabuza.

"Perhaps, but they are in no condition to help you Sakura-san" the brunette with doe brown eyes pointed out launching himself forward and clashing his senbon needle with those of her dual tantou swords.

Emerald eyes slit like a cats pierced right through him as he quickly found himself on the defensive against the young girl "They've done their part already and I can handle myself a lot better than those boys, well Genma's pretty good when he's not goofing off" the pinkette stated.

The boy in front of her frowned deeply and chanced a glance over his shoulder at his Master only to realize that in his brief moment of distraction, the girl he was fighting against took advantage of the moment by lunging forward and plunging one of her tantou into his thigh.

Pain alighted his youthful features as he stared up at the pink haired kunoichi, doe eyes wide in horror thinking she was going to kill him "I have failed" Haku realized giving up the fight, he was no longer useful.

His Master didn't even so much as glance in his direction, considering he was being held in place by a bunch of dogs and the Copy Ninja was stood a short distance away from the man obviously talking for the moment.

Keeping Haku held at sword point was simple for the moment, he wouldn't try anything, not yet and Sakura kept her eyes focused on the unmoving duo, she could see everyone by that point as the mist had been completely cleared by the wind jutsu that had been set off.

It was agonizing the wait and then suddenly chakra filled the air, it was heavy and oppressive and visible, the crackling of electricity sounded in their ears as the copy ninja dashed forward, in the next moment Haku stood despite his injury "I must go" his doe eyes were determined.

Sakura titled her head to the side in understanding as the boy was gone seconds later, this was it "KAKASHI-SENSEI AIM LOW" she shouted channeling chakra into her vocal cords to be louder, his hand automatically redirected itself to a lower point.

Just as a body threw itself between him and Zabuza, their eyes widened and a blast of chakra washed over them, nearly knocking them off their feet when they were able to focus again, they saw what had happened in the brief moment of distraction.

Haku was stood in front of Zabuza, hand buried in his stomach "Why would you, but how" Kakashi was in shock, the boy was barely alive, he would probably be dead if he hadn't aimed his jutsu lower.

Mismatched eyes shot in the direction of the only pink haired girl he knew of unbeknownst to himself the man who'd just been saved yet again by his apprentice let out an inaudible sigh of relief but to keep up the pretense of fighting swung his sword.

"Not bad Hatake" Zabuza chuckled menacingly as Kakashi leaped backwards, Haku in arms, the boy groaned quietly as agony wracked his body, he hadn't thought it would hurt this much, nor had he thought he would still be alive, perhaps he hadn't out lived his usefulness.

Kakashi glared and the fight was on again between the two Jonin, by that point Zabuza was wearing down again and found it difficult to keep up "What's the matter Zabuza" the silver haired nin taunted feeling anger rushing through his veins.

"I'm going to slaughter you" the raven haired rogue snarled furiously doing his best to get in another hit, until he found both of his arms completely useless, he was going to try and continue the fight when Gato arrived with a bunch of thugs.

The moment she'd been waiting for almost impatiently as the pink haired Jinchuuriki walked forward to stand at the Copy Ninja's side "Well, well, well looks like he's really done a number on you huh Zabuza" Gato slammed his cane on the ground to get their attention.

"What are you doing here Gato this wasn't the plan" Zabuza turned, glad that the man he'd formerly been fighting had, had the sense to put Haku down next to the other Jonin, who hadn't really gotten involved in the fighting, and out of the way of further danger.

Gato smirked "According to the new plan you die on this bridge Zabuza, so called demon ninja, more like a demonic wet kitten" the man taunted, but it wasn't Zabuza who took offense to the words but the young girl stood at the copy ninja's side.

"Sakura-chan that's not a good idea" Kakashi hastily tried to warn the girl from leaping headlong into a fight she wouldn't come out of, but when her yellow and green mismatched eyes met his own mismatched eyes of onyx and sharingan, he knew he wasn't speaking to Sakura.

But the two tailed cat sealed within the girl **"Relax Kakashi-san, I don't intend on letting anyone of those bastards touch my Koneko-chan, do you object Momochi-san"** a lilting voice filled the air from the girl, who after speaking to Kakashi turned to the demon ninja of the mist village.

Zabuza considered his options it was either charge recklessly forward and possibly die or let the Jinchuuriki girl handle Gato "I'll be coming with you" the raven haired male finally stated, not relishing in the thought of owing a debt to anyone, especially not a life debt.

Those mismatched eyes pierced straight through him before focusing on Gato a low rumbling growl filled the air and with Matatabi in control, the girl shot forward, tantou swords held out, the rogue, Yamato and Genma weren't to far behind as they launched a counter attack.

Against the one who was really to blame for how difficult their mission had gotten, all the problems they'd faced and Sakura had somehow realized this during the time she was grieving for the unfair situation she'd been put in by her own adopted parents.

It wasn't a very long fight as the three genin, two former Jonin who had been de-aged, a jinchuuriki and a rogue jonin bypassed most of the thugs and weapons that were thrust at them, though Zabuza did get hit with quite a few taking a hit for the girl.

Until it was just them and Gato "Y..Your just a kid, a genin brat how the hell could you go toe to toe with my thugs, there's no way you'll be able to kill me" who was trying vainly to get out of the situation he suddenly found himself in.

Matatabi had relented control back to her host, who stood tall before the man she found blame for everything that had happened since they'd left the village "Then you underestimate me by believing that" Sakura spoke coldly.

Her teammates on either side of her watching for any sudden moves and letting her handle everything "I..If you think I'll just let myself be killed by a snot-nosed brat genin your dead wrong" Gato snapped holding up his own weapon, which was pathetic.

And Sakura slapped it from his hands, it fell into the water, before holding out her hands, nails elongated "For everything that has happened and this village that you punished for wanting to live, you're life is forfeit" the pinkette said lunging forward.

Nails, long and sharp hitting their target, Gato's heart and the oppressor of the small village was dead, when she pulled her nails free, his body fell over the side of the bridge and into the water below "Good work Sakura-chan" Genma was suddenly at her side praising her with a kind smile.

"You were amazing, but we still have work to do" Yamato praised as well, though reminding the two of the remaining thugs, who moved out of their way, dropping their weapons as the trio of genin passed and Zabuza trailed behind them slowly.

In the end the rest of the thugs were scared off by the village "Can you heal him Sakura" Inoichi finally spoke up as the genin moved in their direction and Kakashi joined them, the girl in question knelt at Haku's side.

Who coughed out blood obviously bleeding internally 'Let me Koneko-chan, my chakra will heal him so you don't have to waste more of your chakra' Matatabi offered and so when the pink haired girl raised her hand instead of green chakra, it was blue like her flames.

She pressed it over the hole in Haku's stomach, and the pure chakra that came from the two tailed beast healed the damage done "Th..Thank you" Haku murmured softly as the flesh stitched together until he was all healed.

Then she rounded on the last remaining seriously injured person, waiting for him to decide what he wanted, finally he tilted his head to the side in acquiesce and soon he to was healed, what only a few of them guessed would happen, happened.

Due to how much she'd done and how very little sleep she'd gotten upon healing Haku and Zabuza, Sakura smiled before falling unconscious, Genma and Yamato were right there to catch her and moments later she was lifted into Inoichi's arms.

With that and since the fight was over, they all trekked back to Tazuna's to get some rest in order to complete their mission, which was watch over the bridge builder as he finished his bridge that would connect the small land to the main land.


	11. Going Home

Going home a few days later once the bridge was complete and saying farewell to the civilians they'd stayed with made Sakura feel like she was going to her death 'Everything will be alright Koneko-chan you'll see' Matatabi kept trying to cheer her up thought it wasn't doing much.

Sakura let out a quiet depressed sigh and immediately Genma turned to her "Sakura-chan are you okay" Genma asked carefully, did she regret killing Gato or was it something else, he was rightfully concerned.

Especially when she gave him a completely heart-broken look "No, what am I going to do when we get home, I don't even have a house or a family to go back to" Sakura whispered, voice warbling with the threat of tears in her eyes.

"We'll work something out I promise" Yamato murmured from her right in a sure fire tone, livid at the sight of tears and vowing to have a few choice words with the girl's adoptive parents when he could to make them realize what they'd done.

She sniffled softly not wanting to alarm anyone else "Hey maybe you can move in next door at the apartment complex where I live Sakura-chan, that way we can hang out and share meals" Naruto piped in not wanting to hear his best friend cry.

He didn't think his heart could take it really, seeing such a strong girl break down like that "Tch Dope unlike you she's not a ward of the village, that would take time and lots of paperwork, where would she live in the meantime not with you for sure" Sasuke scoffed.

Naruto grit his teeth while the last remaining member of their team was silent, this mission had opened her eyes so to speak about the world outside and inside their village that not everything was sunshine and daisies and Sasuke wasn't perfect.

It was to that, that she made her choice "She can stay with me, I've got an extra room where she can put her bed and I live close to Naruto, so long as she helps pay rent and buys groceries, I'm cool with it" Karin huffed.

"That was mature of you Karin-chan, but we'll have to see what Hokage-sama says about it first" Kakashi ruffled the girl's scarlet hair, proud of his little student for growing up a little bit on this mission, no doubt thanks to Sakura though.

Off to the side was the last remaining Jonin and he felt his heart breaking "In the meantime until something gets worked out, I'm sure Ino wouldn't mind if you were around quite a bit" Inoichi offered knowing his daughter still cared for Sakura.

Wide viridian eyes shot to him full of doubt and just a tiny bit of suspicion "Pretty sure Ino hates my guts Inoichi-sensei" the rosette frowned and Inoichi scratched his head trying to figure out a way to explain to Sakura that Ino was only pretending.

But in the end he kept quiet, choosing to let his daughter do all the talking once she learned what happened "Do you have any female friends at all" the ruby haired girl among them gaped in horror, how could Sakura even survive without a girl to talk to.

Sakura shook her head "No cause all the girls in our class hated her, well Ino didn't until they started liking the Teme and then Sakura-chan quit and focused her attention on that Utakata guy, even after that no one wanted to be friends with her but me" the blue eyed blonde piped in again.

"And that was only because you latched onto her and refused to leave her alone…ow what was that for" the raven haired preteen scowled as he was scuffed over the back of the head by his sensei who gave him a pointed look that told him to shut up.

Ebony orbs widened a sliver and he looked back to the girl who'd been the bane of his existence in the academy and saw her withdrawing into herself even more than before "Could you be any less tactless you idiot" the brunet with hazel eyes snapped.

Furious at the boy for upsetting Sakura more than she already was, while wrapping his arm around her shoulders to pull her into his side "Yes that was tactless Sasuke" the silver haired Jonin agreed, kami that was probably worse than tears at this point.

Depression, upset, hurt, not good things to mix inside a jinchuuriki that had control over their beast "Now, now, lets just hurry and get home alright" the blonde with cerulean eyes grimaced trying to keep the peace.

But the damage was done, Sakura was now eerily quiet 'Don't let what that idiot boy said get to you Koneko-chan, he doesn't understand okay, Naruto's a good boy, he wouldn't befriend you for selfish reasons' Matatabi soothed her host.

Pacing around in her world restlessly eager to sink her claws into the Uchiha boy for daring to upset Sakura "Listen Sakura, your not alone anymore okay" the other brunet on her team whispered as he squished her between he and Genma.

In spite of herself, her lips quirked up into a small, very small smile and they even got a nod out of her, but Sakura kept quiet, no doubt falling apart on the inside as they trekked the last few miles home to the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Ah congratulations on a mission well done" Hiruzen greeted taking the mission reports to read over while the two genin teams and their Jonin sensei's crowded around his desk waiting for dismissal.

When he got to the end of the mission report, Hiruzen clasped his hands before him "Take a couple weeks off" the Third Hokage waved his hand, after splitting up the mission pay between the two teams.

No one moved "U..Uh Hokage-sama, my uh parents kicked me out, they came to tell me personally in the land of waves" Sakura was nudged forward gently by her teammates and as she spoke, she wrung her hands looking nothing like her usual bubbly self.

Hazel eyes widened before filling with pity, "I see and do you have accommodations ready until the paperwork is completed to declare you a ward of the village" Hiruzen questioned gently, being kind to this young girl who'd lost all manners of things in the past few months.

"I offered since I have a spare room at mine, I can even go with her to get her stuff" Karin piped in, avoiding looking at the girl she'd hated up until a couple days ago, but after everything they'd been through she did feel bad that Sakura seemed to be getting punished for no reason.

The Hokage nodded "And should that not work out, she's welcome at my home, we, Aiko, Ino and I would love to have Sakura-chan around" Inoichi spoke up as well not wanting the girl to think she was unwanted.

Because she was, she was just going through a rough-patch and things would get better, though it would take awhile for Sakura to see that "I'd let Sakura-chan stay with me to but I don't have a spare and my apartment's so tiny that I don't think she'd be comfortable" Naruto added quietly.

Wishing he could do more for his best friend who had always helped him "Should none of those things work out, Yamato and I can get an apartment to share with her until she's ready for one of her own or just share as a team for good" Genma shrugged.

Like offering such a thing was no big deal, for him it wasn't, he didn't know how their other teammate felt though "Precisely since Sakura's our teammate" Yamato nodded in agreement, even though it would be weird.

Sakura looked stunned that they would go that far for her 'It's your choice Koneko-chan' Matatabi reminded feeling the hope swelling within her host, all it took was just a bit of attention from her teammates and all the suffering and agony Sakura felt was being erased.

It was actually quite amazing "I'd offer, but I don't think it would be appropriate to have a genin stay in my apartment, especially not a young girl" Kakashi frowned, eyeing his two de-aged friends like they were nuts.

They completely ignored him though "Tch if she wants peace and quiet, she can come crash at mine anytime" Sasuke turned his head away glaring at the floor, in his own way apologizing for what he'd said.

A little surprised that most if not every one in the office was willing to give her a place to stay Sakura worried her lip, considering her options "For now I think I'll stay with Karin" the rosette finally said after thinking for a few minutes.

"Very well, I'll summon you once the paperwork is complete and we'll talk then, now go home and collect your belongings" the wizened old man dismissed the lot of them for the second time and they all left his office finally.

Genma and Yamato watched Sakura walk away from them with Karin, while everyone else headed off for home themselves "You think she'll actually be happy with that little redheaded harpy" the brunet with brown eyes scowled upset that Sakura hadn't chosen them.

"No, perhaps Sakura merely chose Karin-san until we get that apartment to share" the onyx eyed brunet rolled his eyes understanding Sakura's thought process better than his own teammate, Karin was probably the only person she wouldn't be imposing on right now anyway.

Since she could mostly take care of herself and Karin wouldn't try to mother her like they would "Anyway I don't trust her adoptive ex parents so want to go help Sakura-chan pack up" Genma smirked and thankfully his partner nodded.

And with that they headed after the two girls, arriving just in time to watch Sakura's adoptive mother slam the door in Sakura's face "You alright" Yamato was there just in time to stop the girl from falling on her behind.

"If we were alright we'd be inside already and getting her things" the redhead snapped furious that the woman refused them entrance to get Sakura's belongings, how low could the woman go as to refuse the girl her stuff after telling her to get it once she got back and to leave.

Sakura was radiating more hurt than before as she realized that the two who had adopted her, really didn't care anymore "We can get in through the window I think" the rosette sighed pointing to the window on the second floor.

The four of them gathered chakra in the soles of their feet and walked right up the side of the house to the window, figured out how to unlock it and snuck into the bedroom "Kami what did they do try to destroy your stuff" Karin gasped seeing the mess.

"Probably that's how much they hate me I guess" Sakura shook her head as she pulled out a storage scroll and tried to salvage what she could from the broken things that had once been hers, Genma and Yamato were quiet helping her alongside Karin.

Until the room was spotless, even the bed was sealed inside the storage scroll "Do you have anything else Sakura-chan, that was maybe downstairs" the brunet with hazel eyes asked when it was apparent they were getting ready to jump out the window to leave the house behind.

She shook her head again "I don't think so, kept all my stuff in my room after all cause they wouldn't let me put any of my things downstairs" the pinkette shrugged, shutting the window and locking it as they landed on their feet out in the streets again.

"We'll come with you to help you get set up at Karin-san's" the second brunet on her team offered lightly as they started walking towards Karin's two bedroom apartment where ever it was in the village anyway.

To their relief Sakura did nod this time clutching the storage scroll with all her belongings tightly to her chest "Here we are, sorry it's not much" the redhead huffed as she unlocked the door, making a mental note to get a spare key made and leading the way inside.

It took some effort on their part to clear out the second bedroom, sealing away all the junk in a storage scroll and put in a closet making the room spotless then came unsealing her own belongings, which caused a problem.

Seeing as how her ex parents had destroyed most of her things, she no longer had a dresser, Yamato bless that guy as he quickly made some things out of his wood, even going so far as to turn the dresser into a vanity complete with little stool to sit on all that was left was to get a mirror.

Tears misted her eyes at that "If there's anything else Sakura let me know okay, I can even make you a new frame for your bed since it looks like it's about to fall apart any second" Yamato chuckled pulling the girl into a quick side hug.

"Could you please and that's it I think" Sakura swiped her eyes trying to be strong unsealing the bed next and putting it in a spot that she liked, complete with new wooden bed frame, her clothes were put away and the rest of her odds and ends found their own places around the room.

Yamato however upon seeing how many books Sakura had in her possession saw fit to make a three shelved bookcase and a couple of end tables "Right we'll see you tomorrow" Genma gave Sakura another hug before he and Yamato were gone.

Leaving the two girls alone "Should probably check and see what I have in the cabinets for dinner" Karin zipped off wanting to let Sakura come to terms with the fact that she no longer had any parents and was in fact moved into someone else's place.

Her cabinets were nearly bare however so Karin sat down "Not much is there, suspected that might be the case" the rosette joined her about an hour later, eyes red and puffy but at least she was talking unlike before.

"Can you make something with just these and tomorrow we can go shopping" the ruby haired girl gestured to the ingredients she'd pulled out, the usable ones anyway, looking them over herself and not seeing anything that would make a halfway decent meal.

Emerald eyes roamed over the ingredients ranging from vegetables to some fruit, flour, cornstarch, sugar, chicken stock, and some packaged ramen "Err how about some soup" Sakura finally decided already pulling out the necessary utensils.

"Fine with me" Karin shrugged watching with intense ruby eyes as Sakura familiarized herself with the kitchen a habit the girl had no doubt since she liked to cook, finely chop up the vegetables, carrots, zuchini, squash, potatoes, and set them to boil in the chicken stock.

While creating an odd mixture of a tablespoon of water and the cornstarch she had and had never used, twenty minutes later Sakura tested the vegetables to see if they were soft and added the cornstarch mixture.

Letting it sit for another five or so minutes, stirring the soup before pulling it from the heat "There we go, dinner is ready" the rosette grinned proud that she'd managed to make something with the limited ingredients, proving that she wouldn't need much to get by.

Karin was a little surprised herself "Thanks for the meal" the redhead mumbled waiting patiently until a bowl was put down in front of her along with a glass of water, Sakura gave her a small smile and sat on the other side of the table in the remaining chair.

Giving her own thanks for the food before they both dug in, it wasn't the best sure, but it filled them up with plenty left over for breakfast the following morning as they bid each other goodnight and crawled into their beds.

The next morning, Karin was less than pleased to be woken at exactly 7:30 in the morning by someone knocking loudly on her door "What" Karin snapped yanking the door open with a glare in her ruby irises.

Only to pale slightly at the sight of those two, Sakura's ex adoptive parents and quickly shut the door in their faces before locking it and even putting a chair under the doorknob to prevent them from forcing their way in.

Panicking slightly Karin scampered towards the now occupied second bedroom and found her sudden roommate still sleeping, oblivious to the world "Is there a reason you came barging in here like that" Sakura sat up a few seconds later.

Waking up at her tailed beast's insistence "Your uh, those two are here the people that kicked you out" the redhead cringed, this was not how she wanted to start the day, by having those jerks come to her apartment and upset Sakura again.

"Just ignore them, they can't do anything or they'll be the ones in trouble" the rosette shrugged lightly, just done with the ones who had taken her in when she'd been little, her heart had settled knowing that she did have true family and that's all that mattered.

Knowing Sakura was right Karin nodded quietly as they ate the remains of their dinner for breakfast and cleaned up "Shopping right, maybe we should make a list of what we need" Karin suggested as they sat at the table.

Unsure of those two were still outside the door or not, neither of them were quite ready to leave the apartment yet anyway "Essentials first, you have flour, sugar and cornstarch, on the list probably vegetables and other fruits, plus a crate of eggs" Sakura ticked off her fingers.

Pencil and paper were pulled out "Hmm how about some meats, turkey, sausage and bacon that's about all I can stand really, ooh we can get some more chicken stock to and rice" the redhead scratched those things down on the list as well.

"Other types of noodles, cheese and milk, and maybe salt and pepper, baking soda and powder, I think that's it for essentials" the pinkette finished digging through her pouch for her wallet and counting up how much she had, it was enough for now until the paperwork was complete.

Though she'd probably have to convince the Hokage to let her take on extra missions until it was "For extra I think I can spare some ryo for some heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla flavoring" Karin suggested knowing the girl was good at sweets.

"Cake flour to then I could make crepes" Sakura perked up at the idea and with that they slid their feet into their sandals and after peeking out the peephole in the door, scurried from the apartment to the market to get their shopping underway.

Halfway there they were joined "Morning Sakura-chan, how was your night, did you sleep well" Genma greeted with a great big smile while squishing her into his side and glaring around daring anyone to comment on his uncharacteristic actions.

Seeing as how the rest of his classmates had taken to following him around and laughing about his current miniature form behind his back "Good Morning Genma and it was okay, though apparently kicking me out wasn't enough they had to track me down to" the pinkette frowned.

"Yeah they were pounding on my door earlier this morning, I didn't let them talk though and shut the door in their faces like they did us and they were gone when we decided to leave and shop for groceries" the scarlet haired girl nodded.

Genma scowled in response "Just let us know if they try to do anything okay Sakura, Karin" Yamato said concerned for not just his teammate now but for Karin, who seemed to be turning over a new leaf and bettering herself.

Both girls nodded in answer "Shopping huh, what are you gonna get" the brunet with hazel eyes grinned and took the list, frowning at how little there was until he realized that it was all they could get until Karin got her next stipend for being a ward of the village.

Or until Sakura became a ward herself, even then Sakura didn't have much money to her name either "Why don't we chip in as well, Genma so that you girls can get a little more than what you have written down" the second brunet suggested.

Daring his partner to argue, they had plenty enough to help out after all and they were damn well going to do it to, Genma shrugged and that was that "No it's okay, I can make a lot of stuff on just that alone" Sakura smiled.

"I don't see how, that's just the bare minimum and won't last you more than four or five days at the most" Genma sulked putout, there she went again and he feared that they'd never be able to break through her walls.

Even Karin seemed to be agreeing with Sakura "Hate to break it to you guys but after last night I have to agree, she made a large pot of soup with just the bare minimum and we still had plenty left over this morning" Karin admitted.

Still in awe over that and she wondered with her and Sakura how long could ingredients last, probably a lot longer than usual "Really well that's kind of interesting" Yamato commented, intrigued by the revelations.

Then he realized, Sakura had, had to fend for herself for the most part and no doubt those two who had called themselves her parents had left her very little so Sakura had most likely learned how to get by on very little as well.

Sakura was in truth a conundrum, the jinchuuriki that wasn't meant to be in the Hidden Leaf Village, one of the few that could control their beast and had sympathy from the creature because Sakura was the daughter of her former host.

"So no worries alright, if we do run out of something I'll let you know" and the rosette was talking to them so Yamato forced himself to listen, drawing out of his thoughts as they finally arrived at the market and started going around getting groceries.

Pouting, Genma nodded knowing it was the best he was going to get 'Oi Koneko-chan we've got incoming' Sakura going rigid had him alert in five seconds flat, especially when her eyes flashed green and yellow indicating the tailed beast was lying beneath the surface.

Then he turned and found the reason why his teammate was suddenly so tense "What do you what" the redhead snapped stepping in the way of the duo who were just tormenting Sakura for fun at this point she was sure of that anyway.

"Move brat or would you like to go with us to T&I and explain how you helped that thief break in and steal our things" Kizashi jerked his head indicating for Karin to move out of the way but the young girl held her ground.

Even crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at them with those red eyes of hers "Or we could go to Hokage-sama and have you explain how you refused to let Sakura get her belongings hmm, that wouldn't be stealing now would it" one of the brunets stepped forward.

He wouldn't allow for them to harass a girl who had done nothing wrong besides try to love them especially after they quit caring for her "Why you little…get the hell out of our way" Mebuki spat reaching out to slap the preteen standing in her way.

Before she could however, her hand was snatched in a tight grip "If I were you Mrs. Haruno, you'll leave these children be" Inoichi came to the rescue at just the right moment that had Sakura sighing softly in relief that she wouldn't have to talk to them.

"Not until that little bitch returns what she stole from our house" the blonde raged furious that she was being stopped and trying to get her hand loose from the grip it was being held in so she could try and take a swing at that brat again.

Inoichi narrowed his eyes "Did you steal Sakura-chan, anything that belonged to them" the blonde with cerulean colored orbs turned his head to spy Sakura who was in the middle between her de-aged teammates.

She shook her head "Exactly, we only got her things after you told her to get her things when she got back and leave" the brunet with onyx eyes piped in standing close to the girl, giving her silent support during this confrontation.

Kizashi grit his teeth, "I don't know how anyone could love that despicable child, I hope you rot in hell" he spat at the ground then turned on his heel, his wife hurried after him once she was let go and then the two of them were gone.

"Ignore them Sakura, you know their wrong, your not unlovable, you have that Raikage guy and his brother remember" Karin burst out thinking of something that would undoubtedly cheer Sakura up and thank kami it worked to.

Pulling a smile from Sakura who nodded "Yeah I know thanks Karin" Sakura said shyly and even hugged the other girl super quick, that had the males grinning as they finished up the shopping and decided to return to the house, leaving the guys behind.

"Yamato how much can you do right now with your wood style" Inoichi questioned suddenly, having an idea that would make four children happy, hopefully anyway if all worked out that was and the idea was given the okay.

The de-aged man tilted his head in consideration "Not very much just small things, considering I have access to only half my chakra, what are you thinking Inoichi" Yamato saw the deep in thought expression on the other man's face.

"Ah I see, you wanted to know for them, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Karin, we could all share a house it would give them something to come home to, we'd all be one happy family" Genma nodded understanding in the next moment.

Making Yamato feel like crap because he couldn't do it "Don't worry about it, I'll figure something out" the blonde waved leaving the two males to scurry after Sakura and Karin who were putting away the groceries at that point.

"Figures" the redhead rolled her eyes when she opened the door to let them in, having guessed the two would show up and sensed them coming that way anyway as they took off their sandals and joined her and Sakura in the kitchen.

Sakura was a thorough sort of girl, cleaning out every single cabinet and organizing each one for certain ingredients and whatnot "Yes I'm a neat-freak okay" the pinkette huffed out a laugh feeling the stares.

Even Matatabi rumbled out a laugh 'Koneko-chan your something else' the two tailed cat purred and Sakura relaxed, nearly dropping the potatoes they'd gotten as an afterthought and hurriedly put them away before she did.

Jumping from the stool and landing neatly on her feet "So we were thinking what would you two girls say to sharing a house with not just us but Naruto and Sasuke to" the hazel eyed brunet came right out with it and asked the two girls.

Who froze and stared at him with wide eyed, probably not really believing him "We still have to ask Hokage-sama, plus talk to Naruto and Sasuke about it, but with all of us, we'd be able to get more groceries and pay rent together" the onyx eyed brunet explained.

Both girls were quiet, thinking on the idea "I'm okay with it I guess, though if Sasuke found out that I'd be living there to I think he'd refuse" Karin admitted, she knew he didn't like her and she was done chasing after him to.

"Pretty sure Sasuke hates my guts to, nor does he really like Naruto either" Sakura announced tapping her arm in thought, Sasuke was one of the few least sociable people she'd ever met and that was saying something because Shino had been pretty bad about his anti-social tendencies.

They were both right though, convincing Sasuke would be a difficult task "We'll talk to him" Genma shrugged having an idea of what to say to get the boy to agree, so long as he was left alone, he'd be fine moving into a house, probably.

"After we talk to Hokage-sama" Yamato reminded and after awhile of making sure Sakura was going to be fine on her own with just Karin, he and Genma left, heading to the Hokage's office to find out how things were going.

He was mostly expecting them "They sent me a complaint about Sakura-san stealing from their house and the paperwork is nearly complete, tomorrow most likely, now is there anything else" Hiruzen announced feeling bad for that young girl.

Her whole world had been turned upside down by just becoming a genin "Inoichi suggested that we all share a house, with not just Sakura-chan, but Karin, Naruto and Sasuke to" Genma explained carefully.

"You can leave the convincing of those two boys to us, but we wouldn't have a clue as to where to begin looking for a house big enough to house all of us" Yamato grimaced, hoping that it was possible or such a house existed.

Intrigued by the idea, Hiruzen gave his approval "Leave that to me, somethings bound to come up" the Third Hokage chuckled shooing the two from his office so he could get started on paperwork, Genma and Yamato shared a look.

Before going off in search of Sasuke first as he'd be the hardest to convince "What do you two want" Sasuke scowled when he opened his door and found them standing outside in front of his apartment "Please tell me you aren't pissed about what I said yesterday" the raven grumbled.

Letting them in when they simply refused to leave "Nothing like that Sasuke, how would you feel about sharing a house with all of us, Sakura, Naruto, Karin and the both of us" the onyx eyed preteen offered.

"It's not happening, I'm perfectly fine on my own and I don't need anyone" Sasuke shot the idea down immediately while crossing his arms over his chest, unimpressed that they'd come here simply to ask that.

Genma bit his cheek "That's fine and all Sasuke, however you find it hard to get by on your own don't you, with all of us you would never have to worry about running out of food or things you need until the next stipend" the hazel eyed brunet narrowed his eyes.

Sasuke straightened at that "Are you trying to blackmail me into agreeing or something" the raven haired preteen scowled angrily at the thought of it while the two before him simply raised their brows on him.

"Of course not Sasuke-san, just think about it alright, we swear you'd be left alone for the most part" Yamato turned on his heel heading off knowing it was better to let the Uchiha boy stew in his thoughts for awhile.

"It's off to Naruto's now right" Genma glared back at the apartment that housed one of the last few remaining Uchiha's, Yamato nodded and they headed towards the apartment complex the Uzumaki boy lived in.

He answered the door right away, looking as if he'd only just woken up "Sakura-chan's teammates what brings you two all the way here, is Sakura-chan okay, Karin didn't do anything to her did she" Naruto narrowed his eyes in concern.

Until they waved his concerns off "She's fine Naruto, getting along with Karin for now, we actually came because we had a brilliant idea, how would you like to share a house with all of us, Karin, Sakura, Sasuke, and us to" Genma blurted.

Eagerly waiting for the boy to catch on "What that would be totally awesome, what about Teme though, he'll never agree" the blonde frowned realizing that his other teammate was way to stubborn sometimes.

"Ah don't worry about Sasuke-san, I'm sure he'll agree eventually" Yamato chuckled watching the blonde bounce all over in excitement, having figured Naruto would be one of the ones that would agree to the idea right off the bat anyway.

So after promising they'd tell him when a house to fit them all was found, Genma and Yamato left leaving Naruto to his own devices for the day as they wandered the village, looking around at different houses none of which peaked their interest before going home and to bed for the night.


	12. The Damning Genjutsu

In the end Sasuke agreed to sharing a house with the other orphans of his class and the de-aged duo not that any of them knew it really, and a week later they were moving into the house the Hokage had found for them.

Large was the first thing all of them thought when they first saw it "We claim biggest bedroom" Karin shouted charging through the doors and up the steps to the only room that had a bathroom attached to it, the master bedroom as they'd been told, plus the house only had five bedrooms.

She and Sakura had gotten use to sharing space after all "Aww no fair Karin-chan" Naruto sulked when he found the two girls in the biggest bedroom, it kind of sucked a little that none of the rest of them had been given a chance to call dibs on the room.

"Listen Naruto would you rather share the room with Sasuke or let us have it, since we can be mature" Sakura soothed his ruffled feathers and at the mention of sharing a bathroom or a bedroom with Sasuke immediately put Naruto off the idea.

As he sped off to pick out his own bedroom "We're sharing one of the remaining three bathrooms" Genma walked into the room a few minutes later, all set up since he'd brought very little from his old apartment, a couch an armchair, his bed and clothes, plus whatever he had in his cabinets.

"Yeah seeing as how those two can't share very well" Yamato chuckled following after his de-aged partner helping the girl's set up and divide the room evenly between them, with plenty of room in-between.

Karin and Sakura giggled and a couple hours later the house was properly set up for the six of them "So I think we should probably lay down some ground rules" Sasuke proposed suddenly knowing it was a good idea to do so.

Thankfully the all nodded in agreement as they sat around a low table with pencil and paper sitting in the middle "We should come up with a rule each" the brunet with hazel eyes suggested hoping that no one would argue.

"Okay then I'll go first, Rule #1 No Entering Someone Else's Bedroom Without Permission" the red head among them wrote down the rule as she said it, then passed the pencil and paper off to the next person who was Sakura.

Who pulled out two jars and labeled them "Rule #2 Everyone Chips In For Groceries and Rent, anything else needed we'll get in due time" the pinkette added towards the end in parenthesis's and with Yamato's help the jars were set on a shelf in the living room.

Next was Naruto, he tapped the pencil to his lips thinking long and hard "Rule #3 We All Clean Up After Ourselves, and if someone needs help we help them" the blonde finally scratched down in terrible handwriting but they all got the gist of the rule.

"Rule #4 One Hour Everyday To Talk Over Problems That Might Pop Up, in case one of us is having a hard time adjusting we can figure out a way to help you" Genma offered for the list of rules they were all coming up with.

Handing off the paper to the person next to him "Rule #5 Meal Trade Off, so we're not always leaving the cooking up to Sakura and we'll come up with some sort of order so we're all taking turns" the onyx eyed brunet scratched down quickly.

Knowing if he didn't then poor Sakura would be the only one cooking "Fine then Rule #6 At Least Two Hours Of Quiet Time After Dinner, for peace and quiet" the raven haired boy among them, wanting to have that much since the other rules required he put forth an effort.

The rules were pinned to the wall underneath the shelf with the money jars, which a 50 yen from each of them were added to the jars equally making a hundred and fifty ryo in each jar currently, all that was left was to decide on the order of who would cook.

Seeing as how breakfast had already been made, Sasuke offered himself up for lunch that day and Genma decided to make dinner that night for all of them, they were sure Sakura would be the one to cook breakfast on all days so that was wrote down.

Followed by a trade off for meals by the rest of them, Karin was on lunch duty the following day, with Yamato on dinner duty, Sakura traded off with Naruto for breakfast duty and took dinner duty on Wednesday leaving Genma for lunch duty and so on and so forth.

Until everything was decided on and the order was pinned to the wall next to the rules as well "I thought that would take forever to figure out" Naruto scratched his head in confusion as they all sat in the living room on furniture this time around.

"We were all in agreement so it didn't take so long" Karin explained looking up from her book briefly, enjoying the peace and quiet of the house, after the multiple missions the six of them worked well together.

Naruto nodded in understanding before glancing to his best friend who was whispering back and forth with her teammates "So if we're all gonna have to share our problems, care to share what happened during the three weeks you were gone from the village" Sasuke piped in suddenly.

Her head snapped up and Sakura looked to her teammates who squeezed her hands in reassurance "You see I wasn't actually on a mission, human traffickers kidnapped me on our first D Rank Missions, I managed to reach Hidden Cloud, then was kidnapped again" Sakura admitted.

The silence was resounding "That's why it took so long and we weren't sure if we were going to find her" Yamato added to the previous statement a few minutes later, Sasuke looked down, while Karin grimaced, Genma grit his teeth and Naruto looked hurt that he hadn't been told.

Before he realized it was probably for the best he hadn't been told as they continued doing their own thing until it was dinner time where Genma made the best meal he could make given the circumstances, before two more hours of blissful silence and finally the lot of them headed to bed.

A week later it was back to D Rank Missions "How are you guys settling in to that house" Inoichi questioned curiously since he hadn't seen much of the kids or the de-aged former Jonin/Anbu for about a week now.

Once they all met on their usual training grounds to get in a workout, Sakura smiled brightly, coming out of her depression a little bit, while Genma and Yamato chuckled, pleased with the way things were going no doubt.

Inoichi was relieved to have a good response as he set them to work in pairs, pushing them past their limits to help them improve before assigning them D Rank Missions, which they completed together "Don't forget next week we'll be going to Hidden Cloud" the blonde reminded.

Sakura perked up in excitement at that "Can't wait Inoichi-sensei" the rosette beamed, emerald orbs sparkling with happiness, writing to her distant cousin wasn't enough and she knew he must be raging mad about what her adoptive parents had done.

"Course you can't Sakura-chan, anyone would be excited about getting to see their family member from another village" the hazel eyed brunet snorted around his senbon needle and threw his arm around her shoulders as they walked away from the Hokage Tower with their mission pay.

Plus her bi-weekly stipend for being a ward of the village "Yeah and no doubt Team Seven will be assigned to escort us again as we've learned to work well with the members and get along with them" the other brunet chuckled lightly.

Keeping his hands mostly to himself except for the small assurance he gave by squeezing her hand, before they could even reach the house, the three of them were stopped by another adult "Shiranui, why'd you choose to….ow the hell was that for" the man began.

And realizing what he was about to reveal Genma snapped his foot forward into the man's shin "Shut it Raido, now is not the time for it" Genma glowered at his old friend hoping to keep the man from saying anything incriminating.

Such as the fact about them that no one but the rest of the Jonin and some Chunin knew "No need to kick me Shiranui, anyway I'd like to stop by your apartment and discuss things privately" the man revealed to be Raido frowned.

"Can't, we moved to a house, we're sharing with Sakura, Naruto, Karin and Sasuke" Yamato announced lightly and Sakura looked far to worried about their conversation, that signaled it was time to get the flak out of dodge.

Nudging her forward until they were well away from Raido "What was that about" Sakura questioned carefully and her teammates gave her innocent smiles, explaining that he was an old acquaintance of theirs that they did business with sometimes.

Just like that the explanation was accepted as they finally reached home, a home that was in chaos anyway "TEME I'M GONNA POUND YOUR FACE IN" Naruto snarled furious about something or another while the only girl on Team Seven stood well out of the way.

"Another fight, though if I'm being honest, Sasuke did start it" Karin whispered when Sakura and her teammates were stood next to her, watching the antics of her own male teammates until they came dangerously close to destroying the table.

Only then did she intervene and grip both boys by their ears "Why me to, the Dope started it" Sasuke scowled furious that he was getting punished to, Karin put a hand on her hip and narrowed her ruby eyes, Naruto visibly gulped, while Sasuke went eerily quiet.

They'd learned what happened when an Uzumaki female was angered "Both of you need to stop fighting about every little thing, admit your wrong sometimes Sasuke and Naruto don't let Sasuke work you up so much, we're a team we have to get along" the scarlet haired preteen scolded.

Pointing a finger in their faces before stalking off, seeing as it was her turn to make dinner "Yikes makes one wonder" the hazel eyed brunet whistled under his breath, as Naruto and Sasuke sulked on the couch sitting next to each other.

"Sorry" the raven grunted in apology a moment later "Sorry for being a jerk and you were right, we could have got the mission done faster if we'd done as you suggested" he continued trying to work through his feelings.

"Thank you finally that's all I wanted" the blonde huffed popping up from the couch and together they straightened up the living room like one of the rules stated, though they had to remind themselves each and every day about them.

Sakura threw her head back and laughed "Honestly you boys" the rosette giggled heading to her shared room with Karin forgetting all about her question from earlier as she took a quick shower, lost in her thoughts.

Until Matatabi drew her into her psyche 'Are you truly doing well Koneko-chan or still trying to put on a brave face for them' Matatabi asked in concern for her host, of course she cared, Sakura was a young girl put in a difficult situation.

'Ah I'm okay Matatabi-chan, really I promise, I'm excited to see Raikage-sama again, Cee-san and Darui-san to' the pinkette chattered washing herself on autopilot at that point while lost in another world that wasn't her own.

Matatabi was quite relieved at that, letting out a purr that had her host going completely lax 'Good and should anyone ever hurt you again, they will pay' the two tailed cat growled before curling up to take a nap.

Sakura was quick to finish after that "Take a long enough shower Sakura-chan" the hazel eyed brunet asked when she emerged, dressed in her favorite color of red, this time a yukata instead of her usual outfit.

"Leave her be Genma, if Sakura wants to take a long shower to wash away the dirt and grime of training and undergoing missions then let her" the onyx eyed brunet scolded without even looking and Sakura laughed yet again sitting down between them at the table.

Waiting for dinner to be ready so they could all eat and have their two hour down time, it was something that settled the lot of them in the evening "Say have any of you three noticed your sensei acting weird" Karin questioned suddenly as she was plating up the food.

"Yeah like he's hiding something and a lot busier than usual" Naruto piped in having noticed it in his own sensei, but when Sakura, Genma and Yamato shook their heads in sync he began to wonder if they weren't just seeing things.

Especially when they spoke "Not in the least, Inoichi-sensei is the same as ever, calm yet kind, if he was hiding something though, he's really good at it" Genma shrugged already knowing what the kids were talking about, but not saying.

As he wasn't sure if Inoichi planned on nominating them when the time came for it, Sakura might not be ready after all "The only thing he told us, was that next week we'd be going to Cloud again" Yamato added.

"Great that means we'll be your escorts no doubt" Sasuke huffed not to put out as it would get them out of the village for awhile and to another one so that Sakura could immerse herself in the village she should have been born in, that had actual family for her.

There were only three of them that had remaining family, though he wouldn't touch that subject with a ten foot pole, Naruto and Karin didn't act much like distant cousins themselves and Sakura's only family lived in a village a week away.

"Probably Sasuke, but that's not so bad is it" Sakura giggled taking a bite of food when a plate and a cup of tea was set before her and Karin took her spot at the table, where they all dug in enjoying the food before heading to the living room for their downtime and eventually headed to bed.

The following morning proved to be a little chaotic "Boys" the rosette huffed once the kitchen had been cleaned up properly from the food war Naruto and Sasuke had engaged in, wasting some of their ingredients for the useless fight.

Both of them paled "We're sorry, we'll get groceries after our missions are done" the blonde of the group raised his hands to protect himself from getting hit by his best friend who had a wicked punch when pissed off.

"You better, I'll make sure they do Sakura, now come on, even if Kakashi-sensei is going to be three hours late" the red head rolled her ruby eyes in exasperation already ready with her sandals on and weapons pouches situated to her body.

Sasuke nodded seriously wondering what had possessed him to do that anyway "Don't worry you can count on us" the raven grimaced feeling like a child as he scurried after his teammates to meet their sensei at their usual meeting place.

Sakura sighed "Wonder what got into them this morning" the hazel eyed brunet snorted in amusement, glad that he was mature enough not to do something that stupid and incite a female's wrath, like those two had.

"Maybe they just felt like it, you know it's not often Sasuke indulges in childish antics so that could be a good thing" the other brunet of team thirteen commented in an analytical tone trying to make sense of the situation.

To his teammates amusement as they finally arrived on their training grounds "I thought we could try something different, no missions today" their blonde haired sensei greeted, gesturing to the other person on the field.

Who seemed a little intimidating and Sakura shrunk back a little at his stare "Names Shikaku Nara, Shikamaru's my boy, we're going to see how well your minds work on strategy and the like" Shikaku greeted looking to someone else on the team.

Inwardly laughing at the two de-aged Jonin/Anbu who were stuck in preteen bodies again, his lips twitched before clearing his throat "Strategy huh, like what Shikaku-sensei" Genma glared knowing the man was laughing at him and Yamato.

"We have five tests set up here on the training grounds, you three are to put your brains to good use and figure them out, come up with a strategy to get around it and whatnot" Inoichi explained carefully, hoping this didn't put to much strain on his lone female student.

She was the only normal genin there with a slight difference in being a Jinchuuriki as well "Let's get this over with, come on Sakura" Yamato sighed uncrossing his arms and tugging his teammate along by the hand as they headed for the first test.

None of them were expecting though for the ground to explode "Exploding tags, their probably everywhere ahead of us, which means treading carefully" Sakura piped in once they were to safety and away from the literal minefield that had become part of their training grounds.

Jonin standing back watching their every move as the trio sat down to converse "How do you propose we get across without setting off anymore" the hazel eyed brunet sulked, of all the things Inoichi had to do, it was this, and it was going to be absolute murder on them.

Yamato went silent and Sakura stared out over their training grounds "Yamato is the answer I think, he could use his wood jutsu for one, another is making a path through by setting off the tags in a certain area" the rosette finally said after several minutes.

Her teammates just sat staring at her in surprise "That's actually some good idea's, though I think we should probably stick with making a path with my wood jutsu" the onyx eyed brunet suggested as they stood and headed to where they knew the exploding tags were.

Then a beam of wood shot out of the ground, making a direct path over the expanse of the exploding tags, they walked across it in a single line, balancing precariously on the small path they had before reaching safety on the other side.

Shikaku was actually surprised while Inoichi chuckled "Sakura-chan is quite smart now lets see how they get past the second test, this one requires a little more thinking power" the cerulean eyed blonde focused his attention on his students.

"I wonder if Shikamaru ever realized how smart that girl was" the Nara Patriarch mused seeing them take the scroll that held their next test and sit down, opening the scroll as they did so that was full of Chunin level equations.

He completely missed the excited gleam in Sakura's eyes "You like this sort of stuff don't you Sakura-chan" Genma chuckled at her expression as she pulled out a pencil already working through the first equation.

"Of course I do, always got a hundred percent on these types of tests and these are a lot more complicated that the ones Iruka-sensei always gave us" Sakura grinned scratching down the proper answer before moving on to the next.

Teammates just watching in awe and helping out a little so they were all working together like they were meant to "Right I guess one of us has to take it to them" Yamato muttered when Sakura was done and all the questions had been answered.

Correctly he had no doubt about that as they all stood together and returned to Shikaku and Inoichi's sides "Done already" Inoichi chuckled his amusement as his friend took the scroll with Chunin level equations.

And unrolled it to go over the questions "Nicely done your third test is a little survival in that there forest, Kakashi has graciously let us borrow his pack of ninja hounds, your test is to avoid detection and capture for thirty minutes" Shikaku informed the trio.

Genma shuddered at that while Yamato swore inwardly to get his friend back for this, those canines were dangerous and poor innocent Sakura was curious as they crossed the wooden beam again and entered the forest.

"Well, well looks like fresh meat to me, get em boys" an unfamiliar voice that Sakura didn't recognize said from behind them, causing the trio of genin to turn and face a pug along with other ninken standing behind him.

Sakura felt her heart give a jolt in fear as the canines lunged "Whatever you do Sakura-chan, just keep running" the hazel eyed brunet on her team warned taking off in another direction opposite of where she stood, two ninken on his heels.

"RUN SAKURA, RUN" the other brunet yelled taking her by the hand and charging off "Suppress your chakra and scent, just like that good" he instructed and once she got the hang of the technique left her on her own.

Dread pooling in her stomach at the utter nonsense of the exercise, she ran, ran with all her might even with a ninken on her heels, the large one and she knew she didn't want to get caught no matter what 'Koneko-chan you have to slow your breathing, calm your heartbeat' Matatabi soothed.

Hoping this survival test didn't turn into a disaster 'Ri…Right Matatabi-chan' the pinkette nodded inwardly, diving into some bushes and putting up a soundproofing/scent and chakra blocking tag to calm herself.

The ninken ran right past her hiding place none the wiser that his target had stopped as Sakura took several breaths greedily filling her lungs with air, her heart slowed to a much calmer pace and after steeling her nerves took down the tag.

On the run again, she swerved around the pug that had spoken five minutes later and ducked as a large paw swiped at her 'Good your doing quite well, dive, roll, swerve nice Koneko-chan' Matatabi instructed her hosts.

Instinctively knowing when to have the girl dodge pointy claws, paws or jaws as they all tried to capture her, Sakura even went so far as to make a clone and dive into another thicket, getting scratched up by thorns.

"They won't protect you long" the pug eyed the girl hiding behind a wall of thorns, never mind how she even got in there, and those with him lunged attacking the thicket, tearing the branches of thorns away and Sakura braced herself.

When the last barrier of thorns had been broken she spotted a little opening between the large one and the pug, tucked her head into her chest and rolled through that little path, tearing off into the forest away from the three ninken.

Breathing heavy again by that point Sakura checked the timer that she'd started at the very beginning and found there was just ten minutes left, with renewed determination she tucked the timer away and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

Away from the ninken on her heels, the time limit was almost up when she had a head on collision with someone that wasn't meant to be in the forest not realizing yet that she was in a genjutsu cast by a ninja that her ex adoptive parents had hired to ruin her life.

The person before her narrowed his eyes "Raikage-sama what are you doing here" Sakura asked slowly in confusion, seeing as how she'd be coming to see him in a week, something that she was massively looking forward to since he and Bee were the only family she had left now.

"That's right I'm the Raikage foolish girl, did you really think I cared about a brat from the Leaf Villages, that's nothing but a beast in human skin, regardless of being Yugito's daughter, your nothing to me got it" the genjutsu Ay began.

Heart dropping into her stomach Sakura clenched her fists "If you didn't care then why treat me like family in the first place" anger seared through her veins and she shoved the tears away that wanted to spill from her eyes.

Genjutsu Ay sneered down at her "Just to watch your face twist in despair when I took it all away, all your hopes and dreams, along with your future" he smirked cruelly raising two fingers and channeling his lightning nature into the attack.

Moved so quickly that she had no time to react and thrust his fingers deep into her heart, outside the genjutsu, Pakkun knew something was wrong when the girl he was chasing stopped dead in her tracks and then fell over.

Especially when the screaming began it sounded like she was being murdered "Crap that's a Jonin level genjutsu" Yamato and Genma were right there half a second later, crouched down on either side of Sakura.

"Go get Inoichi and Shikaku now Pakkun" Genma ordered seriously unable to break the illusion himself with his current chakra levels, the pug nodded and took off while the others disappeared in plumes of smoke leaving them alone.

It didn't take long "What's going on" the cerulean eyed blonde appeared along with Shikaku a couple minutes later, letting the screams lead them where to the genin were in the forest, and he was horrified to learn those screams were coming from Sakura.

"How the hell did she get caught in a genjutsu, I didn't set any up" the Jonin Commander demanded to know as he knelt next to the girl and ran through a set of hand signs, Genma and Yamato shook their heads, indicating they didn't know either.

A moment later the jutsu was broken and Sakura immediately stopped screaming "Sakura-chan please tell me your alright" Inoichi questioned gently as she was helped into a sitting position, bangs shielding her eyes and shaking like a leaf.

"Do you know who cast the genjutsu" Shikaku inquired carefully but it was clear Sakura hadn't even known it was a genjutsu as she curled in on herself with a flinch before shaking her head quietly not even saying anything.

Yamato grit his teeth "Can you tell us what you saw in the genjutsu Sakura" the onyx eyed brunet prodded lightly not being harsh, Sakura's head jerked in response and he saw the fear prominent in her eyes followed by a flow of tears as they cascaded down her cheeks.

"Raikage-sama killed me said I was nothing to him" the rosette croaked out, throat hoarse from the screaming she'd done while in the genjutsu and Yamato felt sick to his stomach as they realized that she'd been through the worst sort of torture.

Shikaku however looked confused and gazed at Inoichi who shook his head "You know that's not true Sakura-chan, Raikage-sama cares for you a lot, he wouldn't lie about something like that" the hazel eyed brunet soothed.

Taking the traumatized girl into his arms and hugging her tight "Okay how is it you know the Raikage enough that you'd see him in your genjutsu" the Nara Patriarch questioned in confusion not liking that he was being left out of the loop.

Inoichi blew out a breath trying to determine if his friend would keep quiet about the information then decided to just get it over with "He's her biological cousin, distant sure by family all the same, you can't tell anyone Shikaku" the blonde answered and warned in a serious tone.

The man passed a hand over his face "Come on I think this training session is over with, you should get her home to her parents" Shikaku grumbled, not cruel to force the girl to continue with the rest of the tests they'd set up.

His friend shot him a dirty look "Her adoptive parents threw her out, so she has none Shikaku" Inoichi frowned deeply and bent scooping Sakura into his arms to her teammate's frustration and led the way out of the forest back to their training grounds.

"Yeah and then refused to let her get her things after telling her to and accused her of stealing" Genma grit his teeth angered over this whole debacle, Sakura had finally started acting like herself again and now, now she was going to go back into that shell of hers.

Shikaku stared at him in horror while Inoichi grimaced "Before you ask, we're sharing a house with her and Team Seven" Yamato explained so the man didn't have to ask anymore questions such as where Sakura was living if she'd been kicked out.

For the rest of the way back to their house the girl in question was dead silent "I'm sorry I ruined our training session Inoichi-sensei" Sakura apologized when she was stood on her own two feet again looking like her soul had been sucked out.

He didn't know what to say that would make her realize it wasn't her fault so Inoichi patted the girl gently on the head and ushered her in with Yamato and Genma on her heels until she vanished into her shared bedroom with Karin to curl up under the covers and hide away from the world for awhile, Genma and Yamato sighed and headed back downstairs.

Meanwhile Inoichi and Shikaku were headed for their favorite bar "How did they do on the equations" the blonde was curious, if that interference hadn't been made, he was sure all the little tests would have been passed.

"Correct every last one of them and it seemed like the girl was mainly the one cranking the answers off, quite the brain she has, makes me wonder if she likes shogi" the Nara Patriarch mused, mulling over the equations again.

Just to make sure he wasn't making some kind of mistake, he wasn't every last one of them had been answered correctly in a very detailed way that neither Yamato and Genma had the tact for, he knew that much for certain.

"Of course Sakura-chan's smart and probably, she likes trivia and games that challenge her mind if I recall correctly" Inoichi chuckled before frowning that poor girl, he wished bad things would stop happening to her, it wasn't fair and one of these days she was going to break.

Intrigued now, Shikaku resolved himself to ask the girl to play a game of shogi with him sometime "Right I should get home before the wife gets mad" Shikaku sighed after his fourth glass of beer and stood heading home.

~Back at the House~

The members of Team Seven had finally returned bearing the promised groceries "Can someone tell me why Sakura is hiding under her covers" Karin stormed down the stairs after twenty minutes of trying to get the girl to talk to her with no success.

"What please tell me something else hasn't happened to her" Sasuke groaned, it was like the world was out for Sakura's blood, Genma and Yamato glared furiously at the floor looking quite angry despite their usual kind dispositions.

Hearts dropping in their stomachs they knew something bad had happened to Sakura "Will you tell us please Yamato, Genma" Naruto frowned deeply hoping that they could fix this and get Sakura back to her usual happy self.

Until they were told of course and the five of them sat downstairs in silence eventually Sakura did crawl out of her bed and pad down the steps looking worse than before and head into the kitchen to make dinner for them, before vanishing back up the steps after eating and going straight to bed without a word to the lot of them.

Left with no other choice they headed to bed themselves, intent on cheering Sakura up no matter what it took in their thoughts for the following day or however long it took to cheer the girl up as they crawled into their beds and went to sleep.


End file.
